Of Foxes and Fireworks
by Jetslinger
Summary: Lost in enemy territory and their chakra sealed by a mysterious jutsu, they have no one to rely on but each other. Naruto x Hanabi. Discontinued.
1. Chapter 1

**Of Foxes and Fireworks**

**Summary: **Lost in enemy territory and their chakra sealed by a mysterious jutsu, they have no one to rely on but each other. NxH.

**A/N: New story. I've accepted the fact that I will be hated for this fic, but altering ages isn't my thing. Sorry guys. This fic is lovingly beta'd by Amrun, and she does an excellent job of keeping my wild writing habits in line. Please R&R (Even if they're hate-filled comments of love)!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter 1**

Light footsteps padded down the hallway of Konoha General Hospital, easily hidden among the frantic pounding of feet from the nurses and doctors rushing around her. Hanabi watched them move with disdain.

Even if they rushed, most of the shinobi they were attempting to treat would die anyway. Call her cynical, but she'd seen the injuries they had come in with. They'd be lucky to save ten of the two hundred or so shinobi that had been on the front lines of the attack by Hebi and Akatsuki.

Having collected eight of the nine tailed beasts, the group had apparently decided that that was enough to overthrow the shinobi world. The remaining tailed beast -- also known as the Kyuubi -- had proven nearly impossible to track down thanks to the efforts of Tsunade and the long deceased Jiraiya. However, they'd vastly underestimated the power of the strongest biju in existence.

With the entirety of Konoha backing him, nineteen year old Uzumaki Naruto had run headfirst into battle, attacking the monstrosity that had been created as a result of fusing the eight beasts together. With one mighty swipe of its hand, the monster could level mountains and create tsunamis -- or so the few shinobi that had survived the attack had said.

She herself personally hadn't been there. Being only a fourteen year old chuunin, the Hokage had assigned her and most of her classmates to defending the village from Akatsuki's worker ants. She had, however, felt it when Uzumaki Naruto unleashed eight of his nine tails to fight the beast.

According to the ones that had been there, the blond had ended the battle in minutes. He had all but turned into the Kyuubi himself, and with the help of the summoned Gamabunta, the two of them had torn the monstrosity limb from limb, once again releasing the spirits of the eight biju out into the world and ripping the Akatsuki's plans to shreds.

That was almost forty-eight hours ago, and shaking her head, she edged around a particularly large group of panicking nurses and headed towards the double doors leading out of the hospital. She couldn't wait to get out of this place. The smell of blood was really starting to get to her.

The only reason she was here in the first place was to check up on her cousin Neji. On the orders of her father, she'd braved the decimated streets of Konoha to make sure that her cousin was alright. He had been on the elite squad that'd personally escorted Naruto to the beast, and as a result, had received horrible burns from the Kyuubi's chakra.

To be honest, she was surprised that he'd even lived. When it first was announced that he was to be one of the five ANBU officers to accompany the nine tails, she was certain he'd be among the first to die. Not many could get that close to the battle of the century and live.

Neji's injuries hadn't been as bad as they'd made them out to be. His entire body – even his eyes – were covered in bandages, and it was easy to see that every hair on his body had been burned off; even the long, silky hair most of the girls in the village often swooned over. According to the Hyuuga nurse watching over him, though, he was expected to make a full recovery – save his hair – within a year's time. Not bad, if you asked her.

As she neared the doors of the hospital, a ghost of a smile began to make its way onto the girl's pale lips. She hadn't slept in at least a couple of days, and she was vastly looking forward to snuggling underneath the covers of her huge, king-sized bed. First, though, she'd have to take a shower. Then, she'd need a calming cup of chamomile tea along with a small piece of shortcake on the side. One couldn't sleep on an empty stomach, right?

"Hyuuga Hanabi, correct?" a loud, commanding voice asked, stopping the chuunin in her tracks. Hanabi froze. Right now, she had two choices. One, she could do the responsible thing and turn around to see what the Hokage wanted, or two, she could pretend she hadn't heard anything and continue on her merry way home.

With a reluctant groan, the Hyuuga slowly turned around to face the older blond. To her shock, the woman looked like she'd just walked out of hell. Her hair was greasy and frayed from days without washing, and her clothes looked limp and wrinkled on her thin frame. It was painfully obvious that she'd missed out on days of sleep. She herself probably didn't look too much better, but she had the advantage of natural youth on her side.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," she said, a slightly resigned frown on her face. Before she could blink, a small white package was roughly pushed into her hands.

"This is an S-ranked mission. Take this to the person waiting at the front gate." When Hanabi stared blankly back at her, Tsunade pointed forcefully at the exit and scowled. "Go!" Jumping a bit at the sudden order, Hanabi nearly ran out of the door in an attempt to get to the front gates as fast as she could. She wasn't used to being yelled at and ordered around in such a way, and she'd be lying if she said the buxom blonde hadn't intimidated her a little.

Just a little, though.

The smell of gunpowder and blood reached her nostrils as soon as she stepped outside, forcing her to take a hesitant step back. Although she'd never admit it under even the most gruesome and sadistic forms of torture, blood made her squeamish. She couldn't stand it – the smell, feel, taste, and even the sight of blood was enough to make her cringe in disgust.

She was fully aware that this was a bad quality for a shinobi to have, but as a Hyuuga, she didn't have to see a whole lot of blood. One chakra-enchanced strike to the chest was usually enough to take down even a jounin-level shinobi in seconds, and she was fine with the few nicks and cuts that the people on her squad usually received after a mission. Granted, she hadn't gotten anything past a C-Rank, but that was beside the point.

Using the rooftops as a quicker means of travel, she reached the front gate in a matter of minutes. She was surprised to find an ANBU officer already standing importantly in front of it, and other than a few smudges on his pristine white weasel mask, he looked no worse for the wear. Obviously, he hadn't been anywhere _near_ the battle; more than likely, he'd been out on some other mission when Hebi and the Akatsuki had attacked.

Slowly approaching the man from behind, she held the white package out towards the black clothed man. "Hokage-sama ordered me to give this to you," she said, feeling more than a little uncertain of herself. First of all, she didn't know who the person in the mask was. The Hokage hadn't given her any indication as to whom she was supposed to be delivering the package to, and it was quite possible that the guy had been killed and replaced by an enemy. It was a longshot, but so was a man getting decapitated and still being able to talk trash.

"Let's go," he suddenly barked, taking the package and turning towards the gates at an easy stride.

Hanabi blinked once, twice, and then three times before his words finally registered in her mind. "What?"

"The Hokage sent you, didn't she? _Let's go_."

His voice held a very no nonsense tone, but she was tired – dead tired. Her eyes were already burning with fatigue (Or smoke), and she wanted nothing more than to pass out right then and there. There was no way in hell she'd be able to go on another mission right now! She angrily clenched her fists at her sides and raised her chin defiantly in his direction.

"Hold on! I was only told to deliver this package to you. She didn't say anything about accompanying you on a mission."

As if he hadn't even heard her complaint, the man fully turned around to face her. "You are crucial to this mission, and this mission is crucial to village security. You can refuse, but since you already accepted it, there's a strong possibility that you'll be imprisoned for treason – in the worst case, you'll be put to death. Your choice."

A small smile appeared on her face. Surely he was joking. She was a prominent member of the noble Hyuuga clan, the most powerful and prestigious clan in the village. Saying that she could be put to death for something she hadn't even agreed to was ludicrous. Unfortunately, something about his posture and general attitude told her that he was completely serious.

"Have you decided?" he asked, his voice annoyingly serious and cocky. It was as if he knew what her answer would be.

She stared up at his face in quiet anger, eyes narrowing in a futile attempt to intimidate him into being honest. "...Who _are_ you?"

"Your squad leader. We're running out of time. Let's go. _Now_." Without even giving her the chance to respond, he once again turned around and easily hopped over the closed steel gate of the village. Not seeing any other option, she groaned and applied some chakra to her feet before running up and jumping over the wall right after him.

This would be her first time outside of the village since the attack, so it was to be expected that she'd be shocked by the carnage that lay before her. Never in her life had she seen such a horrible scene, and on reflex, she slammed her hand over her mouth in an effort to stem the flow of vomit coming up from her stomach. There was blood everywhere – on the ground, in the trees, splattered haphazardly on wall behind her, and on the dozens of dead bodies splayed about around her.

Even worse, she actually knew a lot of the dead Konoha shinobi. People that had been happy and smiling only a day before were now cold, decomposing and drowning in their own blood. She placed her other hand on her forehead, feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on. She couldn't take this much blood.

Unfortunately, her squad leader didn't seem to have a problem with it. "Hurry up," the man growled, body almost vibrating with impatience, "This mission is time sensitive." He instantly took to the trees, sprinting in the direction of Iwagakure.

After taking another couple of seconds to get a hold on her gag reflex, Hanabi followed behind him. "What is this mission about, anyway? Why do you need me? Where are we going?" He was going at a much faster pace than she could normally keep up with, but she was eager to get as far away from the dead bodies as possible.

"To an enemy encampment near the Rice Country border. We're rushing to retrieve a comrade that has been captured by the remaining Akatsuki forces. I need your eyes so that we can get in, find the target, and get out."

Hanabi frowned. She should've known. Whenever someone requested her for a mission, it was _always_ because of her eyes. They never respected her other abilities, and honestly, it bothered her a little. On the other hand, this also meant that she never had a shortage of income. She could get a mission practically anytime she wanted – something not many people could attest to. She didn't need the money living in the Hyuuga household, but it was nice to have some spending cash whenever a pretty dress or pair of shoes caught her eye.

She watched his back in thoughtful silence, finding herself more than a little curious about who the man in front of her was. He had a very stern, commanding personality, a feature that she usually only associated with her father. She couldn't say much for his skill level, but somehow, she wasn't too worried about that. He seemed to exude confidence in himself and his abilities from every pore of his body, and being a Hyuuga, it was especially easy to pick up on this fact. Her eyes dropped to the man's weapons pouch, and suddenly remembering the item she'd given him earlier, she curiously raised her voice in his direction. "What's in the package?"

Without turning around, he answered. "Poison antidote."

"For the target?"

"We should keep all conversation to a minimum for the duration of this mission."

Hanabi's eye twitched in anger. First of all, she was doing him a favor by accompanying him on this mission. She was tired, hungry, and frustrated, but because of her duty to her clan and her village, she'd set that aside to help him. So what gave him the audacity and the right to tell her, in not so many words, to shut up.

To make matters worse, they were _days_ away from the border. However, her squad leader showed no signs of slowing down anytime soon. It sort of made sense, but at the same time, it didn't. She could understand that the sooner they rescued their target and administered the antidote the better, but if they were too tired to fight – or even get to the target – what was the point? They'd be captured just like the person they were trying to save. Although she couldn't quite follow his train thought, she continued to keep up with his space. He seemed to know what he was doing.

They travelled at nearly full speed for six hours straight, jumping over bodies upon bodies of fallen shinobi. Funnily enough, the further they got away from Konoha, the fewer dead Leaf shinobi she saw. In fact, she was starting to see a dramatic increase in the amount of Iwa and Kumo ninja the closer they got to the border. She still felt sick to her stomach when she saw their decapitated, bloody bodies, but much less so than usual.

Unable to take it any longer, Hanabi stopped on the sturdiest tree branch she could find. She leaned forward on her knees and took long, heaving breaths, using her hands to keep her legs from shaking. "Let's stop here!" she shouted, hoping to get his attention, "It'll be nightfall soon, and I'm tired!" For a moment, she thought he hadn't heard him. Thankfully, he turned around and jumped back in her direction, stopping directly in front of her.

"Fine," he mumbled, sounding eerily exhausted himself. "We'll stop here. We covered a lot of ground today, so we should be fine on time."

Hanabi literally sighed in relief. He was human after all. For a minute there, she was starting to wonder what exactly was behind that white weasel mask of his. She hopped to the ground with a grunt, wincing at the weakness in her knees from all the running and jumping she'd done. She heard him land behind her with an equally loud grunt, and without even slowing down, he placed a hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

"Go collect wood. I'll build a fire," he said, leaving no room for argument.

The Hyuuga frowned. Call it a pride thing, but she really didn't like the way this guy was ordering her around. As far as she was concerned, the only two people who had the right to tell her what to do was her father and the Hokage. Not only that, but he was touching her. She didn't remember giving him permission to put his hands on her. So, mustering up as much courage as she could in her comparatively smaller body, she shrugged his hand off of her shoulder and turned to glare up at him.

"Excuse me? Since when is it my job to collect the firewood? Why don't I build the fire?" A tense silence developed in the clearing. She could literally feel his ire from his position in front of her, but it wasn't nearly enough to scare her. She'd dealt with this level of anger and annoyance from the branch members everyday of her life.

The man seemed to realize this since he nodded once and began to walk off into the forest. "I'll collect firewood, so you build the fire. Keep it small; there may still be enemy forces around."

Hanabi watched him go with a barely contained smirk. She'd admit it – she was satisfied with herself. She'd shown him that she couldn't be pushed around so easily, even if he was nearly twice her size. Shaking her head, she allowed herself to come down from her temporary high to get started on the fire.

She managed to get a decent fire going with the materials she'd found around the clearing, and leaning back on her hands, relaxed for the first time in what felt like years. Her body was tired from nearly three days of constant abuse, and sleep was the only thing she had on her mind right now. Despite her best efforts, a wide yawn escaped from her mouth. God, she was sleepy.

She looked up at the orange evening sky and sighed, forcefully blowing the bangs of her long dark hair out of her eyes. Sometime during their mad dash towards the Akatsuki camp, she'd managed to use the hair tie that normally kept her wild hair under control. She ran her fingers through her black locks a few times in a futile attempt to make herself presentable.

If she'd have known that she would be dragged along on a two-man search and rescue mission, she certainly would've packed some supplies: A couple of sheets, ration bars, a change of clothing – you know, the usual. As it was, all she had to her name were two or three kunai, a spool of wire, five shuriken, some explosive tags, and a couple of scrolls hidden in the pockets of her chuunin vest.

She was only vaguely aware of the light footsteps approaching her from behind, but she easily recognized them as those of her mysterious team leader. It was an odd sounding gait; almost like that of a really, _really_ large child. He dropped an armload of firewood next to her meager flame before plopping down on the other side of the fire, staring at her from behind his cold porcelain mask.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, raising a dead rabbit for her to see. As if on cue, her stomach let out a loud, obnoxious growl, forcing her to blush slightly and look away. Without waiting for her answer, he set about the task of cleaning and dressing the poor forest critter, showing a surprising amount of cooking skill and finesse.

Of course, being a Hyuuga, she'd never really had to cook for herself. If their chefs didn't serve them supper, her older sister Hinata would insist on cooking her a traditional Eastern meal. Although she was a bit loath to admit it, it was one of the many qualities she admired about her Onee-san.

Speaking of which, she had yet to hear from her older sister. As a matter of fact, she had yet to see or hear from any of the original Rookie Nine. Granted, she wasn't out looking for them, but it was a bit strange that they hadn't shown their faces at all in the twilight of the battle. Perhaps they were sleeping; just like she should be doing right now.

"Here," the man said, holding out a stick with a large piece of rabbit meat on it.

She thought about thanking him for the food, but as far as she was concerned, he owed her this for dragging her along on this stupid mission in the first place. She positioned her meal over the fire and watched it cook, already drooling from the smell the tender meat was giving off. She normally wasn't a fan of outdoor cooking, but in this case, she could make an exception. It wasn't like they had anything else to it.

they sat together in a comfortable silence, neither of them particularly interested in talking to the other. Needless to say, that suited her just fine. She was used to ignoring her teammates on missions. Unless she was teamed up with Hinata, Neji, Kiba, Konohamaru, or Moegi, they all ignored her as well. It worked out perfectly.

"It's done," he said, snapping her out of her reverie.

She watched him remove his meat from the fire and hold it up to his face, curious as to how he was going to eat through the mask. She didn't have to wonder for long as he lifted his mask from over his face, revealing icy blue eyes and three prominent whisker marks. Her jaw dropped in shock.

"Uzumaki?!" she shrieked, face breaking its cool facade for the first time since they'd met. Out of all the shinobi she'd considered, Uzumaki Naruto – the container of the nine-tailed fox and _the boyfriend of her older sister – _was the last person she expected to see.

Without even looking in her direction, he took a large bite out of his meat and swallowed. "Keep your voice down. We haven't taken out all of the Akatsuki forces yet."

Unfortunately, his words did very little to calm her. "What are you _doing_ here? You just took on eight of the nine bijuu! are you really fine enough to go through with this?"

"Finish your meal and go to sleep; we're leaving in five hours," he said, once again ignoring her questions.

Hanabi stared at him in barely constrained anger. "Five hours?! I've been up for _days_. I'm going to need at least nine or ten to be in any kind of shape to fight."

"You're a trained shinobi of Konoha. You should be used to working on minimal sleep."

It wasn't so much his words as it was his attitude that was bothering her. What gave him the right to order her around like that? How dare he act like he was better than she was? She'd heard all about him from her sister.

For one, he was an orphan. Sure, his father had been the Fourth Hokage, but it wasn't like he'd been raised by him. In fact, he hadn't been raised by anyone at all. Even after his parentage had been revealed, not much had changed. He received a bit more respect from everyone, but that was about it.

She could acknowledge that he was strong, but that was about the only thing he had going for him. Based on the few times she'd met him before, she had easily determined that he wasn't the sharpest kunai in the pouch. She'd even go as far as to say that he was an idiot. This was her first time accompanying him on an actual mission, but she doubted that he was any different out in the field.

So it came as no surprise that she felt righteous anger building up within her chest. She was a Hyuuga. While she didn't have the obnoxious Hyuuga pride some of the older clan members did, she still didn't take too kindly to being talked down upon by some orphaned civilian who was barely five years older than she was.

"What does my sister see in an asshole like you?" she spat, uncharacteristically allowing a swear word to slip out. She knew she'd instantly made a mistake when his eyes shot up to meet hers, a ferocious glint flashing around within his pupils.

"What did you say?" he asked, forcing the words out through grit teeth.

Feeling a bit put off by his attitude, she raised her chin and stared him straight in the eyes. "I said what does my sister see in an asshole like you?" The look on his face was almost enough to intimidate her – almost. However, she'd received much scarier looks from her father, and she'd be damned if she allowed herself to be frightened by some arrogant brat.

Just when she thought he was going to take her head off, he hung his head, took a deep breath, and stood up before hopping up into the nearest tree, leaving the remains of his dinner to decompose in the fire.

Hanabi couldn't help it – she smirked. Finally, he seemed to understand that she wasn't intimidated by a few harsh words and looks. She wouldn't allow herself to be pushed around just because he was a little bigger than she was. Feeling oddly satisfied in both mind and body, she curled up into a ball next to the fire and drifted off to sleep, glad to be getting some sleep after days of hard work.

Being the middle of fall, the weather only got colder and colder as the night wore on, and before long, she was literally shivering from the freezing wind around her. Since she hadn't been given a chance to prepare beforehand, the only protection she had against the vicious wind were the clothes on her back: A black wool long-sleeved shirt, a pair of long black pants, and her dark green chuunin vest: In other words, practically nothing.

After only four hours of sleep, her body decided to forcefully wake her up. She groaned in mental agony, feeling ten times worse than she had before she'd fallen asleep. She was cold, tired, and hungry – but worst of all, her team leader was nowhere to be found. She wouldn't be surprised if he was holed up in warm cave somewhere, bundled up with the thick blankets he'd undoubtedly brought with him.

She pulled the black sheet tighter around her thin shoulders, huddling as close to the small fire as she could. She had no idea what the bastard was planning, and –

Wait, sheet?

Hanabi stiffened in surprise as she ran her fingers over the thin cloth of Naruto's ANBU cloak. When had he given her this? She must have been more tired than she thought, since it was usually impossible for anyone – especially someone as loud as Naruto – to sneak up on her. The cloth hadn't done that much as far as keeping her warm, but she did appreciate the thought.

A light rustling from her left immediately set her on guard, and she carefully gripped one of her few kunai in her right hand. Her body relaxed when she saw the familiar tuft of blond hair in the firelight, and she nodded in his direction to show that she acknowledged his presence. Without even giving her a second glance, though, Naruto grabbed his cloak from around her shoulders and fastened it around himself, instantly leaving her bare and exposed to the icy wind around her.

"Good. You're up. Let's move. If we go full speed from here, we should be reach their base in a max of eight hours," he said, pulling his mask back down over his face. She stared at his back with a mixture of anger and awe. At this moment, she was more convinced that his cloak had accidentally slipped from his shoulders and blown over to her than that he'd given it to her.

"I cannot run full speed for eight straight hours. Six hours is my limit, and to be perfectly honest, I doubt I can even make three after so little rest." She could tell that he was annoyed by her complaints, but it served him right for being such a jerk. Just because she had to help him with this mission didn't mean she had to be completely cooperative.

"Then I'll carry you the last five. Now let's move." He took off into the trees, leaving her dumbfounded by his answer.

It was impossible. No one, no matter who they were, could run full speed for five hours with an extra ninety pounds on his back. Hell, even if they could, they'd be in no shape to do any fighting whatsoever.

She hopped after him at a much slower pace, intent on conserving enough energy to make it there without passing out. Predictably, Naruto complained the entire time. The bastard had even tried to forcefully pick her up a couple of times, something she was appalled that he had the audacity to do. She didn't particularly mind being touched, but she absolutely hated being forced to do something she didn't want to.

They neared the border in a record eleven hours, both of them close to coughing up a lung from fatigue. Still, she was glad to see that he was just as tired as she was. Just like she'd thought, he was bluffing when he said that he could run five hours with her on his back. She knew he was supposed to have limitless stamina – according to older sister, anyway, and she really didn't want to know exactly what she meant by that – but even Naruto has his limit. The guy had just taken on eight demons for Kami's sake!

"We'll take twenty minutes to rest before we start the infiltration. From the moment we enter the camp, I want your byakugan active at all times. If everything goes as planned, it shouldn't take any more than ten minutes. How are you on chakra?"

Hanabi scoffed. Ten minutes? Was he insulting her? If that was all he wanted her to do, she'd be pissed. After the hell she'd been through thanks to Akatsuki and Naruto, she was out for revenge. The only way she could get closure was to stop the hearts of two or twenty grubs. Before she could do anything, though, she needed to find out who she was looking for.

"Who is our target?" she asked, hands resting tiredly on her thin hips.

She couldn't see his face behind his white impersonal mask, but she could tell that something was wrong. He'd been exuding confidence and determination since they'd met at the front gates, but now, his posture took on an oddly defeated attitude. Huffing under her breath, she crossed her arms over her chest and frowned.

"Well?" She furrowed her brows when the man let out a noticeably forced breath and lifted his mask to look her straight in the eyes.

"Hinata."


	2. Chapter 2

**Of Foxes and Fireworks**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter 2**

In retrospect, Hanabi really should've seen this coming. Naruto's impatience, his cold, serious attitude – there was no reason she shouldn't have picked up on the fact that the target was her very own sister.

She hadn't thought it very strange when she'd heard that Hinata hadn't returned to the Hyuuga mansion since the start of the battle. Her sister was a high ranking jounin of Konoha, and was not only considered a great fighter, but one of the top five medic-nins in the village. It would've been even stranger if she'd returned home before a week was up.

Not to mention that, more often that not, she spent the night at Naruto's apartment. Of course, the only other Hyuuga who knew about this was Hanabi herself, since the rest of the clan would undoubtedly throw a hissy fit if they knew.

"We still have ten minutes before the mission starts. Sit down and relax," Naruto ordered, noticing her steadily growing panic.

Unable to work up the strength to argue, she plopped down on the thick tree branch they were standing on. She took a few seconds to compose herself before running a frustrated hand over her face.

"Why didn't you tell me until now? If I had known the target was my sister, I –"

"What, would've tried harder? You should try as hard as you can to rescue any fellow shinobi of Konoha – not just your sister."

Hanabi scoffed with disbelief. "Do you even care about her? What if she dies because we spent twenty minutes resting?!" It was a bit ironic that _she_ was the one now rushing _him_. She was still angry that he had hidden the fact that the target was her sister, and she stood to her feet and began to dash towards the Akatsuki stronghold.

"Shit," Naruto cursed, pulling his mask down and following. "Slow down! Rushing won't save Hinata-chan!" When she didn't ease her pace at all, he sighed and applied a bit of chakra to his feet, overtaking the girl in seconds.

Before she could defend herself, he grabbed both of her wrists in one hand and pulled them forcefully behind her back, simultaneously placing his other hand on the back of her head in a basic submissive hold. He landed them both on a sturdy tree branch and pushed her to her knees, effectively halting her struggles.

"I've trained dozens of times with both Neji and Hinata, and in this position, there's no way for you to use your chakra to break out of this hold. Now, when I release you, I expect you to calm down and listen to what I have to say. All right?"

Hanabi seethed. He was right: there really was no way for her to break out of his grip. Hell, she could barely move at all. It sickened her to be put in such a compromising position by this orphaned trash. Not to mention the fact that his grimy, fingerless-gloved hands was touching her beautiful dark brown hair. The last man who'd dared to touch her silky locks – not counting her hairdresser, anyway – had had his heart stopped by a chakra-infused palm to the chest. He'd been an enemy, but that was beside the point.

Still, her sister needed her, and seeing no other way out of the situation she reluctantly dipped her head towards her chest. "Fine. I'll listen." She felt him remove his hands and take a step back, showing a surprising amount of smarts. He was just outside of her attack range, saving himself from the kick in the balls she was planning on giving him.

"We don't have much time. To give you a condensed version of the situation, the remaining Akatsuki grunts have holed themselves up in a former hideout of Orochimaru's. I've been there before, but that doesn't mean I know where they're holding Hinata-ch – Hinata. That's why I need your eyes. We'll sneak in as quietly as we can, grab her, and sneak back out. If we're lucky, we won't be detected at all."

Hanabi turned around and crossed her arms, fearlessly glaring up into the black circles that made up the eyes of his mask. "Hinata-chan."

"Hinata-chan?"

"I don't care if you call her Hinata-chan in front of me. You're her boyfriend." She got the feeling that he was smirking at her from beneath his mask, and rolling her shoulders to relieve some of the pain from his earlier hold, she jumped off in the direction of the enemy stronghold. "All I have to do is find her, right? Easy. My range is twelve kilometers in one direction, and thirteen hundred meters all around."

"Not bad. You're right behind Neji and Hinata even though they have a good five or six years on you. I might have to start requesting you on more of my missions."

She glanced over her shoulder at the man who'd been nothing but an asshole to her since they'd met. Had he actually cracked a joke? Granted, it wasn't _that _unusual since he was arguably the biggest jokester in the village, but she'd been getting the vibe that he didn't like her too much.

Which was fine by her, since she _hated_ him.

Naruto quickened his pace until he was directly next to her. "Activate your byakugan," he said, black cloak flapping in the wind.

She did as he asked, and immediately, the entire world seemed to open up around her. A grim smirk appeared on her face when she located the remaining Akatsuki members' hideout. Focusing all of her energy in that one direction, she was easily able to scope out the large building. Her smirk widened when she picked up a familiar form, and turning to the ANBU officer waiting eagerly at her side, she spoke.

"I've found her. She's in a steel cage deep underground."

"Are you sure it's her? How do you know?"

"_She's my sister_. I know what she looks like." She suddenly jumped a bit to her left, increasing her speed as much as she could in her worn state. "This way, there's a shortcut around the side of the building. Not only is it the quickest route to where the target's being held, but there are only five guards guarding the entrance and four more along the path until we reach her."

Naruto slowly nodded his head, an amused smirk of his own growing on his face. "It sounds like a trap."

She shot him a deadpan scowl. "I'm aware. I wouldn't be surprised if they know of your relationship with onee-sama — um, the target — and are using her as bait," Hanabi nearly spat.

Speeding up until he was directly next to her, he turned his head in her direction. "Are you trying to say something?"

"Nothing at all."

The blond snorted. "Right. I've got the guards – stay close and watch my back."

"Why do you get to do everything? That's _my_ sister in there; I have every right to–"

"Shut up and do as you're told." She didn't have time to be upset by his dismissal as they were already in the fray. Naruto killed the five guards in seconds, using ten shadow clones to attack, hold down, and slit the throats of the unsuspecting men.

Hanabi blinked. Okay, so she was a bit impressed. Even if she'd wanted to join the fight, she wouldn't have even had time to build up chakra in her palms. She blanched at the blood seeping from the enemies' necks as she stepped over their bodies, wishing he'd chosen a slightly less violent way of ending their lives.

"Take the lead. Just make sure you tell me where we'll encounter enemies." He said, flicking the blood on his kunai off onto the ground.

The Hyuuga nodded and shot off down the hall, Naruto close on her heels. As was typical of Orochimaru's hideouts, there were dozens of twists, turns, and traps. Every hallway they ran down looked exactly the same to the point where the blond was starting to wonder if she really had the byakugan or not.

Finally, after killing three more guards and permanently disabling another, they reached a large, obtrusive wall. Naruto looked over at Hanabi with a disbelieving stare. "I thought you said this was a shortcut? This is a dead end!"

Looking back at him with an equally annoyed glare, the chuunin walked up to the wall and banged her fist on its surface a couple of times. "It's about twelve inches of solid stone. Your rasengan should be able to blow through this in a matter of seconds."

He started a bit in surprise, staring back into her light violet eyes. "You accounted for my rasengan? How did you know about it?" he asked, building up chakra in his right palm.

"Your girlfriend is my older sister, and not only can Konohamaru use it too, but he talks endlessly about how awesome you are and about how you're going to be the Hokage one day. How do you _think_?"

"Right. Good point." He finished forming the rasengan and spread his legs to give himself a better base. "Get behind me." As soon as she took cover behind his cloaked back, he slammed his hand into the wall and brought it down in seconds, just as Hanabi had predicted. Soon after, they sprinted into the room and rushed towards the steel cage holding Hinata.

Naruto's eyes widened as they rested on Hinata's unmoving form. She looked like hell. Blood seeped from every open orifice, running down her face and pooling down on the ground around her head. Her clothing was ripped, tattered, and nearly dyed red with her blood. It was obvious she'd been tortured.

"Why didn't you tell me it was this bad?" he asked, feeling a slow, burning anger growing within him.

Hanabi lightly shrugged her shoulders, arms crossed tightly over her chuunin vest. "I didn't think it mattered as long as she was alive."

"How can you say that? Weren't you eager to save her?"

"Says the guy who withheld the fact that the target was my sister until we were standing at hell's door. As long as she's alive, it's fine. Shinobi are trained for this kind of emotional and physical pain, and my sister is no different."

He stared at her for a good, hard minute, unable to believe the words that had come from her mouth. "You're a cold bitch." He channeled a bit of Kyuubi's chakra and gripped the bars of the cage, bending the metal underneath his fingers. He then easily pulled the bars apart, making a hole wide enough for himself to fit through. "Hinata-chan. Hinata-chan, wake up," he said, gripping the girl and lightly shaking her shoulders. He was only vaguely aware of the chuunin stomping into the cage with them.

"Who do you think you are?!" Hanabi shrieked from behind him, dangerously close to his already sensitive ears. "What gives you the _gall_ to speak to me like that?! Apologize, _right_ now!"

Completely brushing the girl off, he gently set Hinata back down on the ground. "Do you have any medical experience?"

"Yes, but I'm not doing _anything_ until you apologize."

His lip curled at her answer. "Fucking useless brat." He reached into his weapons pouch and produced a couple of smelling salts, snapping one in half and waving it around underneath Hinata's nose. "She's not reacting. Here, use the byakugan to find a main artery and administer the antidote," he ordered, reaching into his pouch and holding the needle out to her.

Hanabi threw her hands up into the air, exasperated by his seriousness. "Her vitals are stable, and other than extremely low chakra, she's fine. She's probably just unconscious, and again, I'm not doing anything until you apologize."

Naruto angrily turned to look at her, lifting his white mask above his face so that she could look him straight in the eyes. "I am your superior in this operation. Disobey me again and I _swear _I'll have you tried and jailed for treason."

She looked back at him with an equally severe glare, raising her chin in a show of defiance. "I'd like to see you try." Despite her words, she snatched the needle from his hands and carefully stuck it into her sister's median cubital vein. "You _will_ apologize to me, or my father will hear of this as soon as we get back to the village."

"Sorry to disappoint you, princess, but your daddy doesn't scare me. I've met the guy a dozen times, and from what I've seen, he's no more skilled in the Jyuuken style than Hinata. I could down him in minutes."

Hanabi fumed quietly for a few seconds. She couldn't wait until they got back to the village. Even if he was her sister's boyfriend, _no one_ talked about their father that way. She'd see to it that both the Hyuuga and the village council learn of his behavior on this mission. She cycled these vengeful thoughts through her mind until she realized that Hinata was still out cold. "Why isn't she waking up? Didn't I just give her the antidote?"

Before he could answer, a loud explosion from their left caught their attention. They simultaneously turned to see a single, pony-tailed man standing smugly in the opening he'd created. It wasn't until the smoke cleared that Naruto was able to see the silver hair and circle glasses that told them their enemy was Kabuto.

"Because she's dead. Well, brain dead, at least. This poison erodes the chakra pathways and destroys the cerebral neurons within twenty-fours, and not even the great Tsunade-sama can regrow cranial nerves. You're about fifteen hours too late," he said, a wide grin on his face. "Welcome, Uzumaki Naruto, to the end of your life; courtesy of Uchiha Sasuke."

At that moment, nearly one hundred Akatsuki members filed into the building, surrounding the two shinobi on all sides. Many of them looked to be at least chuunin level by the way they carried themselves, and every single one of them was grinning maniacally.

"They're under mind control, just like the Akatsuki ninja we fought back in Konoha. Hokage-sama said they were under the influence of scopolamine, a drug that in low doses can be used as a sleep aid or anti-depressant and in high doses as a truth serum or mind control agent. Since we don't have the antidote she developed here with us, we'll have to either kill them or knock them out. I recommend killing," Hanabi murmured, dropping into her stance.

Naruto also took up a basic defensive stance and formed twenty shadow clones, wincing a bit at the stinging pain that came along with chakra exhaustion. It seemed he was still exhausted from his previous battles. "Didn't need the medical lecture, but thanks. I don't have to look out for you, right?"

Hanabi frowned and shot him a glance from over her shoulder. "Who the hell do you think I am?" As soon as the words left her mouth, they jumped into action.

Naruto was the first to land a blow, sending one of his opponents flying towards Kabuto. He then threw four wind-enhanced kunai through the foreheads of seven men and the abdomens of two more, grateful that they were stupid enough to attack in clusters. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough chakra to break out his wide range jutsu, so he was forced to waste his physical energy fighting the old-fashioned way.

Surprisingly, Hanabi had actually fared a little better. She jumped into a large group of people and immediately whirled into a Kaiten, sending thirteen men and women flying. After coming out of her rotation, she used the Hakke Kuushou to send another ten men careening into a nearby wall, instantly knocking them out.

They fought on and on for what seemed like hours, neither of them stopping for a break. In addition to fighting for their lives, they also had to protect Hinata's unconscious body, shielding her from stray kunai, shuriken, and jutsu. Despite the insurmountable odds, though, they were actually doing pretty well. Only forty or so men remained in the room, and at the rate they were going, the battle would be over in under ten minutes. Unfortunately, Kabuto also seemed to notice this fact.

"You two are doing well so far. Let's even the playing field a bit." He formed a release seal and grinned evily before backpedaling out of the room, instantly putting the Konoha shinobi on edge.

"What is this?!" Naruto shouted, feeling the slow trickling of chakra leaving his body. He didn't have a lot to begin with, and whatever the man was doing to him was bringing him down fast.

Hanabi ducked under a thrown kunai and slammed her hand into one of her enemies' chest, dropping him immediately. "You haven't noticed yet?"

"No, what's happening?!"

"There's some kind of gas in the air! It's sucking the chakra from our bodies, and –" Before she could finish her sentence, the Hyuuga suddenly collapsed right next to him, hitting her head on the stone ground of the room with a dull thud. A small puddle of blood began to grow beneath her head, alarming the ANBU officer.

"Shit! Hanabi! Hanabi, get up!" When she didn't answer, he gritted his teeth and formed a new shadow clone, grimacing from the pain the usually simple action caused. "You grab Hinata-chan, I'll take Hanabi. I don't have much chakra left, so we need to get out of here. Hopefully the remaining clones can buy us a little time." The clone nodded and picked the girl up, slinging her gently over his shoulder.

With the original Naruto leading the way, they sprinted from the room and rushed out into the hallway, the remaining Akatsuki members hot on their heels. Since Hanabi was incapacitated, the blond was forced to rush in one direction, using what little chakra he could get from the exhausted Kyuubi to burst through the walls using only his shoulder.

With each twelve inch stone wall he knocked down, he scrunched his eyes from the pain of both the impact and the chakra drain, feeling his shoulder joint dislocate itself after the third collision.

"I set up some exploding tags when Hanabi and I first infiltrated the building. It'll sap the rest of my chakra to detonate them, but if you disappear, Hinata-chan will also be caught in the explosion. Stay _right_ behind me," he ordered, not bothering to wait for the clone's answer. Using his last ounce of energy, he activated all of the tags in the building, causing the structure to explode and crumble behind him.

Due to the explosive power of the blast, Naruto and Hanabi were sent flying into the woods, both spiraling dangerously out of control. Just before they hit an especially large tree, the blond rolled them around in midair so that he took the brunt of the damage. The last thing he felt before passing out was an excruciating pain in the back of his head and the sinking feeling that something was very, very wrong.

––––––––––––––––––

Hanabi slowly opened her eyes, wincing at the throbbing pain all over her body. She felt like crap.

The last thing she remembered was fighting a sea of red clouds in a large stone room, back to back with her squad leader, Naruto. She also vaguely remembered a sick, purple gas in the air, and the next thing she knew, her world had gone black.

She raised her eyes to the bright, glowing moon above her, sighing in annoyance at how easily she had gone down. If she was alive, then that meant she'd been saved by Naruto. Chances were, he'd never let her live it down.

She tried to stand to her feet – only to find that her body refused to listen to her urgent mental commands. Great, chakra exhaustion. This was only her third time experiencing it in her lifetime, but she knew what she had to do next. If things went well and she controlled her breathing, she'd be up and on her feet in no time. Granted, she wouldn't be able to get very far, but at least she wouldn't feel like a quadriplegic.

First, though, she really needed to get off of the uncomfortable, warm mass pressing into her back. She closed her eyes and concentrated on moving her upper body, taking deep, even breaths in an effort to focus her chakra to her arms. She waited for the familiar surge of energy to spread from her diaphragm to the edges of her fingertips, but to her surprise, it didn't come.

Hanabi lightly furrowed her brows. It had been mid-afternoon when they'd infiltrated the Akatsuki base, and based on the position of the moon, she guessed that it was around two or three in the morning; she'd been out for twelve hours. For once, she was glad that she'd been bored enough to memorize the moon phases and positions for that month.

Still, it was strange. After twelve hours of rest, her chakra should have refilled itself. Instead her body felt like it was made of lead, and even so much as lifting her fingers took an enormous amount of effort. It also didn't help that her head was throbbing in agonizing pain.

Reluctantly realizing that she did indeed need help, she lifted her head and raised her voice. "Naruto," she croaked, her voice cracking from misuse. She'd thought about calling for her sister, but last she'd seen, the older girl had been bloody and unconscious. She cleared her throat and swallowed a few times before trying again. "Naruto, are you here?" When he didn't answer, she groaned and rolled her eyes. "I won't make you apologize to me–just this once."

She waited a few seconds for his answer before sighing and closing her eyes, deciding to give up on her useless team leader and concentrate on getting her body moving again. Obviously, she had no chakra to speak of, so she'd have to find another way to move. She gently began to rock her body back and forth, matching her breathing to her movements. When she thought she had enough energy to move again, she rolled herself up from her sitting position and onto her knees, feeling the cool, dewy grass against her shins and forehead.

The maneuver had been relatively simple, but she still found herself taking deep, gasping breaths in an effort to regain her breath. After a minute or two of resting, she forced herself up into a sitting position, splaying her legs out awkwardly in front of her. It wasn't the most modest stance, but at least it was comfortable.

Now that she was (relatively) up and about, she set about the task of locating her fellow Leaf shinobi. Being mindful of her energy levels, she slowly began to turn her head in a clockwise direction, surveying the area around her. She couldn't see anything other than trees and rocks, telling her that she was in a forest somewhere.

Just as she was about to give up on looking for her fellow shinobi, a white blob from the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned her body in the direction of the blob and gasped.

Even in the low light of the moon, she could clearly see the cracked weasel mask of Naruto. She could also see something wet shining on the tree he was leaning against, and frowning deeply, she realized that it was blood.

She took a deep breath to calm her gag reflex and concentrated on moving in his direction, wincing at the weakness in her body. It was much easier to crawl then it was to drag herself along the ground, and she was able to reach the blond within a couple of minutes.

"Naruto," she said, shaking his shoulder. When the boy's head fell forward and hit his chest, Hanabi nearly screamed. There was a huge, gaping wound on the back of his head, and worse, it didn't look like it was healing at all. She placed her fingertips on his right jugular to search for a pulse. Although it was very faint, he was still alive.

Gritting her teeth, she slowly forced her arm to reach into her weapons pouch and grab her first aid kid. For once, she was grateful that Hinata had tried to teach her everything she knew about first aid, and she ripped open the sterile packaging that held a roll of gauze and some clean cloths. She didn't have any water to clean the wound, so she settled for just wrapping it until they could find something later on.

She removed his mask and tilted his head up to begin the procedure, grimacing again at the feel of blood on her hands. She used the cloth to cover the wound and absorb some of the blood before wrapping the gauze tightly around his head to help add some pressure and hold the cotton pad in place.

After tying the bandage securely, she placed one finger on his left jugular and another right below his solar plexus. She wasn't that proficient with using pressure points – especially not without chakra – but this was the only way she could think of to wake him up using as little energy as she could.

Taking a deep breath, she leaned forward into Naruto's body, applying as much pressure as she could with the small amount of strength she had. His body jolted and seized for a few seconds before his eyes shot open, blank blue eyes staring right back at her.

Hanabi breathed a sigh of relief. She was glad she'd gotten it on the first try, since she really didn't think she could muster up enough energy for a second attempted. "Naruto, wake up! Hey!" she yelled, smacking his face as hard as she could to fully wake him.

His head lolled around for a few seconds, but he was eventually able to focus enough to look her straight in the eyes. "My head hurts," he murmured, eyes half closed in what she assumed to be fatigue. He continued to stare at her for a few more seconds, making Hanabi a little bit nervous.

"What?" she asked, growing more uncomfortable with their proximity by the second.

"You're like a selfish, innocent, mini-version of Hinata-chan," he slurred, eyes beginning to roll into the back of his head.

She smacked his cheeks a few more times, scowling deeply. "Naruto, this is not the time." Hanabi paused as she remembered something important. "Where is onee-sama, anyway?"

That woke him up. Almost instantly, his eyes turned downcast and his body sagged a bit deeper into three. He teetered for a few seconds as he tried to regain his balance, and once again looking into the younger girl's eyes, he spoke his first coherent sentence. "She didn't make it."

Hanabi sat back a little, staring at the man's grim face in disbelief. "What do you mean? What happened?!"

He averted his gaze towards the ground. "We were being pursued by enemy shinobi. I was carrying you, and I had a clone carry Hinata-chan. To give us some time to get away, I detonated the explosive tags we set up earlier as soon as I passed through the door. My clone didn't make it out."

She looked down and paused before speaking. "How do you know?"

"When my clone dies, I receive all of its memories. It ran out of chakra before it made it out of the building."

"You...you killed my sister! Why didn't _you_ carry her?!" she yelled, weakly grabbing the front of his shirt in her hand. She was surprised that he was able to keep such a straight face given the fact that his girlfriend of three years had just died. She'd always heard that he was the kind of guy to cry and yell during a mission whenever he felt strongly about something.

He leveled his gaze with hers, light blue eyes shining in the moonlight. "So you're saying it would've been better if you had died instead?" When she released her grip on his shirt and looked down at her legs, he sighed and rubbed his forehead with a free hand to help stave his throbbing headache. "Look, you were the closest person to me when I decided to make a run for it. If I tried to carry the both of you, they would've run us down in seconds."

"We have to go back and look for her," Hanabi said, eyes firm and resolute as they bore into his own.

Naruto shook his head. "It's too risky. There could be some survivors, and Kabuto probably knows we're not dead. He'll be back to hunt us down."

"So?! We can take those guys easily. If we rest for a day or so, we'll be fine." When the blond didn't answer, she furrowed her brows and leaned towards him. "We'll be fine, won't we?"

"The purple mist you saw before you passed out was probably the same poison that effected Hinata-chan. At first, it only drains and suppresses your chakra. Apparently, though, it also degrades the brain given enough time."

"So we're going to die?" she asked, feeling remarkably calm about the whole situation. Since he wasn't getting too upset, things couldn't be _too_ bad.

Naruto shook his head. "I don't know. There's only one syringe with the antidote left, and I want you to use it. "

"You can't do that."

"I can do anything. I'm your squad leader." He slowly reached into his pouch and produced the antidote, holding it out in her direction. "Take the antidote and go back to Konoha. When you get there, have Baa-chan send a team out to look for me."

She slowly nodded her head and grabbed the needle before removing the cap. She then placed the tip against her neck and administered the drug, a small grimace appearing on her face.

"Good. When you get your strength back, go–" Before he could finish his sentence, Hanabi leaned forward and nearly slammed the needle into his jugular. He stared at her in shock for a few seconds, trying to figure out what had happened. "What the hell did you just do?!"

"I administered half of the antidote into your jugular. Since it's a poison that degrades the brain, putting the antidote there is the quickest way to get most of it to where it needs to go. It's only been twelve hours since we were poisoned, and that Cameltoe guy said it takes twenty four for the drug to take full effect. I thought it'd even out this way."

"You do realize that you just directly disobeyed my orders, right?" He snarled, pulling the empty syringe from his neck.

"No, I didn't. Your orders were to, and I quote, 'Take the antidote and go back to Konoha. When you get there, have Baa-chan send a team out to look for me.' Obviously, I won't have to send a team out to look for you now, but I think you can overlook that small detail in exchange for your life." She stared smugly into his deep blue eyes, watching a tiny, almost unnoticeable smirk appear on his face.

"For someone who hates me, you're sure hell-bent on keeping me alive."

"Of course. If you die, who else can I use as bait to slow down the enemy in case they come after us?"

Despite the grim situation, Naruto snorted under his breath. "Amusing. However, we don't have time to be cracking jokes. We need to find a place to rest while we wait for our chakra to regenerate. We're somewhere near the middle of the Rice Country, so all we need to do is head south. I don't suppose you have a compass?" he asked, pushing himself onto his feet. He winced at the throbbing pain all over his body and especially the pulsing pain in his skull.

Hanabi slowly shook her head. "No, but those rocks says south is this way," she said, pointing to her left.

Naruto held his hand out to help her up, using the tree behind him as a support. "Good. On our way here, I saw a small town around ten or twenty miles back. It may take a day or two to get there in our current shape, and neither of us is very fit for hunting. What do you have on you?"

The girl patted her pouch, feeling the items inside. "Two ration bars, some smoke bombs, some wire, explosive tags, one kunai, and two shuriken." She then reached into her other pockets and began to feel around. "In my pockets I have a comb, another kunai, and my purse. Yourself?"

"Three ration bars, a piece of beef jerky, some smoke bombs, some wire, no kunai, and one shuriken. In my pockets I have my purse and...that's it."

Hanabi coughed in an attempt to hold down her chuckle. "You have a _purse_?"

Frowning, Naruto pulled out his frog purse and held it up for her to see. "It's a man purse and his name is Gama-chan. Completely different."

"Right."

"Let's move. Wrap your arm around my waist," he said, putting his arm around her shoulders.

Hanabi recoiled at the thought, taking as large of a step as she could from the taller blond. "Excuse me?"

He sighed deeply and grabbed her shoulders again. "Wrap your arm around my waist. You're too short to wrap your arm around my shoulders, and there's no way we can walk such a long distance without leaning on each other."

She seemed to consider this for a minute or two, staring up at him suspiciously in an effort to judge his motives. Finally, she relaxed her shoulders and leaned into him, reluctantly throwing her arm around his waist. "Fine. Just remember that I'm a minor."

Naruto snorted. "Don't flatter yourself. You don't have anything I'm interested in. Besides, even if I _was_ interested, you stopped being a minor the moment you became a chuunin. The age thing only applies to civilians."

"Are you trying to say something?" she asked, eyes smoldering pits of anger.

He rolled his eyes and began to limp in the direction of the Fire Country, dragging the younger Hyuuga along with him.

"Nothing at all, Sparky."

**AN: Thanks to Amrun for beta'ing!  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Of Foxes and Fireworks**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter 3**

_Thirty-five thousand, nine hundred and ninety seven. Thirty-five thousand, nine hundred and ninety eight. Thirty-five thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine. _

_Thirty-six thousand._

Hanabi counted her steps in her head, carefully observing each footfall to make sure that she didn't miss a number. It was an effective coping technique she'd developed after her first failed mission three years before.

She remembered it as clearly as if it had just happened a couple of days ago. While escorting the prime minister of the Tea Country back to his village, they'd been attacked by a group of four Akatsuki grunts. She'd still been a genin back then, and her jounin sensei at the time, Aoba, had his hands full fending off two of the enemies at once. That left she and her two teammates to fight the remaining two.

Without having to say a word, the three genin had decided that Hanabi would both fight one of the enemies and defend their target at the same time. Normally this wouldn't have been much of a problem, but she hadn't counted on their client being such a coward.

With him simultaneously clinging to her lower body and screaming his head off, she had a hard enough time defending herself let alone the both of them, and the rest of her team was too busy to pull the man away. To make a long story short, she'd managed to kill the Akatsuki bastard––but only after he had managed to kill the prime minister first.

Although it technically wasn't her fault given the situation (how many people could fight an arguably stronger shinobi with a sissy wrapped around their legs?), she still felt horrible about it. If only she'd been stronger, or if only she hadn't been daydreaming about that violet cashmere shawl that was on sale at the Konoha Clothing Co. next to the hospital, she might have been on guard enough to disarm at least one of the enemies before he even got within ten feet of them.

The trek home after a failure was always long and filled with what if's, but if she focused as hard as she could on the number of steps she took, time seemed to fly and her mind remained relatively free of doubts and second guessing.

Unfortunately, it wasn't so effective this time around.

_Thirty-six thousand, two hundred and thirty six._ Hinata was dead. T_hirty-six thousand, two hundred and thirty seven._ They were stranded in enemy territory, with an unknown amount of assailants on their tails._ Thirty-six thousand, two hundred and thirty eight._ The amount of chakra in her body felt nearly nonexistent, and worse, she seemed to be weakening as time went on._ Thirty six thousand, two hundred and thirty nine._ She was tired and she wanted to go home.

A choked sob escaped her throat, and though she thought that she'd successfully passed it off as a cough, that apparently wasn't the case.

"Let's stop here for the night," Naruto murmured, removing his arm from around her shoulders.

As soon as he did, Hanabi nearly fell to her knees––which was surprising, since she had been under the impression that _she_ was the one holding _him_ up, not the other way around. Her large, white-violet eyes followed him as he moved about the small clearing, watching as every now and then he'd bend over to pick something up. It took her a few seconds, but she eventually realized that he was looking for materials to build a fire.

Not wanting to seem like a complete freeloader, she finally allowed herself to drop to her knees and began to dig a hole with her hands. She'd usually blanch at the thought of using her hands for such a dirty task, but she fully realized that she didn't have the luxury of worrying about sullying her skin or getting dirt underneath her fingernails.

She dug a pit about one foot deep and two feet wide in diameter to help hide the flames from potential enemies, and shortly thereafter, she grabbed the largest rocks she could find to encircle her hastily made fire pit. Standing back, she looked down at her work with a small bit of pride. It was pretty good considering she didn't have any tools.

Naruto walked over with an armful of wood and kindling, running his eyes over Hanabi's handiwork. "Not bad," he said, kneeling down next to the pit to begin building the fire.

The Hyuuga felt pride swell throughout her entire body. It was pretty sad that a simple not-really-sort of-compliment could make her feel so good, but it couldn't be helped considering that her week thus far had been pretty horrible. Hell, he could've said that her hair smelled like it hadn't been washed in a week and she would've smiled.

Mostly because it would have been true.

She watched him work in silence, wrapping her arms around her legs and leaning her chin on her knees. Without anything to do, she felt her mind once again begin to wander. She wondered what her family thought of her being gone for such a long time. Since both she _and_ Hinata were missing and unaccounted for, the spot for the next clan leader was wide open. Her father was probably furious right about now, and with good reason.

Besides the fact that he now couldn't retire as early as he wanted to, the clan had to choose, groom, and teach another young member of the clan. As far as she knew, there weren't any capable leaders in the main family. Sure, they had the byakugan, but very few of them were shinobi. Out of those few, none of them were past genin level, nor did they show the potential to graduate to chuunin. It didn't matter too much since being the clan head was mostly political, but in her opinion, it didn't look good for the leader of arguably strongest clan in the village to be weaker than approximately ninety-five percent of the shinobi population.

Hanabi felt a grim smile appear on her face. If she lived through this, she pretty much had zero chance of being marked with the cursed seal. Her father would turn the clan over to her faster than you could say "Hinata's dead," and once the village got back on its feet, there'd probably be a huge, excessively unnecessary procession down the center of the village––only, her sister wouldn't be there to see it.

When the backs of her eyeballs began to burn at the thought, she roughly shook her head. She needed a distraction.

She lifted her eyes and stared at Naruto, noticing the way his sweat-soaked blond bangs stuck to his forehead as he slammed the edge of a kunai against a piece of flint. A spark finally caught on the kindling, so she figured that it was as good of a time as any to strike up a conversation.

"What are we going to do now? Where's that town you said was nearby?" she asked, shyly looking up at him from over her knees. He seemed so hard at work that she almost hated to interrupt him.

He continued to work on the fire, blowing on the kindling to spread it as if he hadn't even heard her.

She waited a few seconds for him to reply, and when he didn't, she lifted her head a little higher and raised her voice.

"I'm talking to you."

This time he did look up at her, but his eyes quickly cut back down to the fire.

"I don't feel like talking," he murmured, adjusting the logs so that the fire didn't burn so bright.

Hanabi frowned. "You don't know until you try," she muttered dryly. She started a bit in surprise when he suddenly stood to his feet.

"I saw some wild berries on our way here. I'll be back." He walked off into the forest, not bothering to ask her if she'd like to come along.

She watched his back until he disappeared, feeling despair seep into her chest with each step he took in the opposite direction; which was odd, since the rest of her body was feeling anger and demanding blood. She couldn't trust herself to be alone with her thoughts and a viciously burning fire, so she quickly scurried to her feet and followed after him, temporarily allowing the subject of their next move to drop.

Her feet were barely audible as they stepped through the forest, her body gliding along like a wildflower in the wind. There was no possible way she could be heard by any normal human being, but apparently Naruto could hear her just fine.

"Go back," he whispered, not slowing in his stride one bit.

She gave up on stealth and instead sped up until she was right behind him, purposefully making him uncomfortable by coming within six inches of his body. She remembered Hinata saying something about him valuing his personal space, and that if you weren't one of his friends, getting too close was an easy way to get under his skin.

"Why?"

The blonde sped up his pace a bit, confirming Hinata's statement. "I don't need your help. Go back."

Hanabi matched him step for step, acting very much like a vigorously starving mosquito. No matter how many times he tried to swat her away, she just kept coming back, more insistent with each pass.

"Why are you being so rude? What's your problem?"

"I don't want to see your face."

Her body froze. What the hell? Okay, so she could admit to being a _bit_ of a pain in the neck when they'd first started the mission, but ever since then, she'd been nothing but civil and polite. Not because she needed him to get home––though that was one of the bigger reasons––but because as far as she was concerned, they were comrades in pain.

They'd both lost someone who'd meant the world to them, and they were the only two people from Konoha who knew that she'd died. They _needed_ each other. She balled her tiny fists at her sides and pushed forward, following him whether he liked it or not.

He glanced at her from over his shoulder, a displeased frown stretched across his face. "Stubborn brat."

"If I remember correctly, you used to be called the same."

The soft grunt he replied with seemed to be filled with something unidentifiable. Respect, maybe? Or maybe it was defeat? Whatever it was, it pretty much meant that she'd won and wasn't going anywhere.

They picked berries together in silence, throwing them into the middle of the cloak he'd set out in the middle of the ground. It was a bit tough to do since the only light they had was from the moon, and it certainly didn't help that the blackberries blended in perfectly with the dark bushes. She'd never missed her byakugan more in her life.

When it seemed as if they had enough (It took awhile since they couldn't resist eating more than they picked), Naruto gripped the edges of the cloak and pulled them together to make a makeshift bag. Without a word, he began to walk back towards the campsite.

"Hey, wait up!" Hanabi called, attempting to run after him. Unfortunately, she didn't expect her legs to suddenly give out on her. Her fatigue from the previous week's battles was finally catching up with her. She stumbled for a few seconds before ungracefully falling onto her face and eating a large mouthful of dirt. She was fed up.

A small, quiet sniffle escaped her. She wasn't going to cry. She was a chuunin of the Leaf, and she wasn't going to cry.

Despite her conviction, large, salty tears rolled down her pale cheeks, dripping onto the rich soil beneath her. She couldn't take much more of this.

Strong, wiry arms picked her up by her armpits, momentarily catching her off guard. She quickly wiped at her face to hide the evidence, but it was blatantly obvious from the look on his face that he'd seen everything.

"You can cry if you want to," he murmured, slinging her onto his back before she could protest. He looped his arms underneath her legs and began to walk back towards the camp, allowing her to cry softly as he carried her. His own eyes shone with unshed tears, but it was obvious that he had much more control over his emotions than his younger teammate.

Hanabi sniffled one last time, wiping her nose on the back of his black shirt. She was certain it'd left a long trail of snot, but it wasn't anything a little water couldn't fix. And maybe some baking soda.

"I can walk on my own."

Naruto adjusted her on his back, causing her to slam her chest against him and nearly knocked the air out of her. "Don't be stubborn." He was quiet for a few more minutes before speaking again. "I didn't mean it like that––when I said that I didn't want to see your face. It's not you."

The Hyuuga blinked, a bit put off by the pseudo-apology. "I knew what you meant. It's okay."

She bunched his shirt up in her fists, digging her fingernails a little roughly into his shoulder blades. Now that she thought about it, this was the closest she'd ever gotten to a male outside of training.

The feel of his wide, warm back was oddly comfortable, and she felt herself becoming more and more fatigued with each passing second. Her traitorous head, suddenly feeling far too heavy for her neck to hold up, dropped onto the area between his shoulder and neck.

The blond's body stiffened below her. "Hanabi." He turned his head to look at her. "Hanabi," he repeated, raising his voice a little.

The only sound that met him was a gentle snoring, and it took him a couple of seconds to realize that she was fast asleep. Naruto bit back an annoyed sigh. He couldn't blame her. They'd been traveling for almost eighteen hours straight, and she couldn't have gotten more than five or six hours of sleep the night before.

He stepped into the clearing that made up their home for the night, his own body feeling as if it was about to give out on him. Being careful not to wake her, he laid the girl by the fire and plopped down next to her, a small, tired sigh slipping past his lips.

"You're more trouble than you're worth," he said to the sleeping chuunin, tossing another log onto the flame. The flame flared up for a few seconds and calmed down again, casting a pale glow on Hanabi's face. Her long, dark brown hair laid loose in the dark soil of the forest, no doubt accumulating all kinds of grime.

Naruto rubbed at the corners of his eyes with his hand. Despite his seemingly abundant confidence, he was completely lost as to what they were going to do from now on. They were at least a month away from Konoha at their current pace, and that wasn't counting any stops they happened to make on the way. If their chakra didn't recover within that time, they were looking at a good two to three months before they returned home.

In the cool, fall, night air of the forest, he allowed a few tears to roll down his cheeks, completely missing the astonished stare of the girl lying at his side.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Naruto! We have to go!" Hanabi whispered, shaking him as roughly as she could.

The blond's eyes sprung wide open, and in a matter of seconds, he was on his feet with a kunai in his hand. The fire had been smothered out, what little gear they had was wrapped in his ANBU cloak, and Hanabi had her byakugan active and was looking at something over his head.

"What is it?!" Naruto whispered, concentrating as hard as he could on sensing the threat. "What do you see?"

"Three men. Five kilometers away. They're with the Akatsuki."

Naruto cursed loudly. Panic beginning to grow on his face, he picked up the bag she'd made out of his cloak and slung it over his shoulder, ready to take off at a moment's notice.

"Do they know we're here?"

The girl winced and extended her byakugan further, obviously exhausting what little chakra she'd managed to muster. "No, I don't think so. They're moving too slowly for someone on our trail."

He relaxed his posture slightly and frowned. "Good job. We need to get moving."

Hanabi deactivated her doujutsu and nodded, releasing a tired sigh as she did so. Sleep lines seemed to cover her entire face, and deep, dark bags rested beneath her eyes.

Moving as quickly as she could, the Hyuuga followed behind her squad leader, being careful not to make any noise during their retreat.

They walked for nearly five hours straight, not bothering to look over their shoulders. Unless you were a Hyuuga, the number one rule of retreating was to never look back. Doing so would only slow you down, and it was better to rely on your five senses to avoid any projectiles the enemy might be tempted to throw at your back.

When he thought it was safe enough, he motioned for her to stop, panting lightly with exertion.

"How were you able to use the byakugan?" he asked, sitting down and leaning against a tree after he'd caught his breath.

Hanabi sat down next to him, being careful to keep a moderate distance. "I don't know. I activated it as an unconscious self-defense reaction and it worked. Trust me, I was just as surprised as you were."

Naruto slowly nodded his head. "That's a good sign. The antidote might be working, then. Maybe it's just spreading through your system faster because you're smaller."

"Either that, or I just used up my last available chakra and I'm screwed for now on," Hanabi muttered, wiping her wet bangs out of her face. She unzipped her chuunin vest to get some cool air flowing and leaned back against the same tree, head tilted towards the sky. "So, what're we going to do now?"

She waited a few seconds for his answer, and when he didn't say anything, she snapped her head around to glare at the side of his face. His gaze was steely and cold as he stared straight ahead, and he seemed to be blatantly tuning her out.

"What is it this time? Why are you ignoring me all of a sudden?" she asked, raising her voice with each word––which, admittedly, still wasn't very loud.

"Because I don't know! I don't know, okay?!" Naruto yelled, probably a bit louder than he should have.

An awkward silence settled between them. She had to admit that she hadn't been expecting that answer. He outranked her and had been acting like he knew what he was talking about, so naturally, she allowed him to take the lead. Now, she felt a bit guilty for forcing all of the responsibility on him.

All of his normal strategies probably didn't work in this situation. After all, how often did someone get his chakra sealed for an definite amount of time while at the same running night and day from an enemy who was constantly searching for him? How often did someone have to make up detailed plans while operating on virtually no sleep, food, or water?

"Sorry," she mumbled, eyes moving down to focus on the dirty toes poking out of her sandals. "I didn't realize."

The breath visibly left Naruto's body, releasing all of the tension he'd garnered from their brief argument. "I guess you really are like your sister – always apologizing for things that aren't your fault. It's my fault. I shouldn't have tried to do everything by myself. Will you help me from now on?" he asked, fully looking her in the eyes for the first time in two days.

Caught off guard by his piercing, pleading gaze, she felt her face grow hot. She quickly turned her head in the opposite direction, glad that she had hair long enough to hide her pink face. She was dirty, tired, afraid, and hungry, but she was blushing like a schoolgirl because her dead sister's boyfriend had looked her in the eyes like a lost puppy.

God, she was screwed up.

"Sure," Hanabi mumbled, still looking in the opposite direction. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself and turned her head enough to glance at him from the corner of her eye. "So, does that mean I don't have to follow your orders anymore?"

Naruto cracked a grin; the first full one she'd seen on him since this whole mission started. It was surprisingly comforting. "You're a sneaky one. I guess not, though. We'll be more of a team from now on, talking things out before moving forward." He paused for a short second, seeming to study her with new interest. "You're a lot less bratty than you were the first day."

She turned towards him a little more, pushing some hair behind her ear to make full eye contact. "Yeah, well, let's see how nice you are after not sleeping or bathing for three days, all while defending the village from hundreds of useless cannon fodder."

"Right." His face suddenly took on an odd look, and he quickly turned his head away to look straight forward. The smirk he'd been wearing had disappeared, and Hanabi frowned at the fact that she actually missed seeing it. "Any ideas?" he asked, his cold, serious expression returning.

She was a bit put off by his mildly passive aggressive behavior but nodded anyway. "I think we should find water. It may be risky since that's what they'll be expecting us to do, but we can't hope to survive on the water we get from vegetation. Personally, I'd rather be pierced through the heart and or brain than die of dehydration."

Hanabi stared at the side of his face to gauge his reaction, finding herself wanting his approval. In truth, she was ecstatic that he was willing to accept her thoughts and opinions. Too often she'd been told what to do by her own squad leaders and father, and when she finally did get to lead a team, of genin or chuunin, she always ended up being usurped by the ones below her. Her own voice felt like it had been muffled by the people around her, and now she finally had her chance to actually show off what she could do. She was _not_ going to screw this up.

"I suppose you're right. We'll rest for a few minutes and then head downhill." He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, completely oblivious of the triumphant grin on Hanabi's face.

She wasn't all that surprised by his decision to go with her plan. It was necessary, logical, and, if they were careful, fail proof.

It didn't change the fact that she was ecstatic; which was funny, since they were stranded in the middle of nowhere with a group of enemy shinobi breathing down their backs. Perhaps she had a bit of masochistic streak.

Despite him saying that they'd only be resting for a few minutes, they'd ended up sitting there for a full thirty, resting both their eyes and bodies. Finally, the blonde opened his eyes and stood up, stretching a bit to get out the few kinks that had developed in his back. Hanabi did the same, grabbing a few of the berries they'd picked the night before and popping them into her mouth.

Without even glancing in her direction, Naruto led the way down the hill, eyes shifting side to side as he surveyed the area around them.

Hanabi noticed with some interest that every now and then, he'd lift his nose to the air and take a big whiff, almost as if he were some kind of canine. She tried to do the same, but unfortunately, all she could smell was her own lack of bathing.

"We're nearing the river. Can you use your byakugan?" he asked, nose once again raised towards the sky.

She resisted the urge to ask how he knew where the river was and instead shook her head. "I'm still empty. Even if I could activate it I wouldn't have enough chakra to see anything past fifty meters or so."

"I figured as much. From now on, keep your eyes and ears open."

Hanabi frowned. The way he'd said that had seemed almost patronizing. It wasn't her fault that he had failed to mention that the Akatsuki had a life-threatening, chakra sealing poison on their side. She roughly pushed a stray branch out of her way, growing more and more annoyed with each step she took. He wasn't warning her of the especially large roots on the ground, and even worse, he was pushing branches out of his way and allowing them to hit her in the face.

The only thing that saved Naruto from being stabbed in the back of the neck by her blunt kunai was the sound of violently rushing water. Her body immediately perked up, and she allowed herself to relax her grip on the knife resting in her pocket. She hadn't really paid much attention to it before, but her throat was literally aching for something to drink.

He seemed to be sensing her thirst, since he suddenly glanced over his shoulder to look to at her. "You can go ahead. I'm going to check the area out a bit more."

She didn't have to be told twice. Before he could say anything else, she was already at the edge of the river, hands gently cupped together to catch some of the cool, rushing water.

Usually, drinking from a river or lake was a bad idea. All kinds of harmful bacteria and disease-causing microorganisms lived in them, and drinking of it could do more harm than good. However, the large amount of rocks she'd spied upstream probably filtered a lot of the more devastating things, and besides, they didn't have anything to boil or disinfect the water with.

Hanabi lifted a mouthful of liquid to her lips, relishing the feel of it slip down her considerably dry throat. Water had never tasted so good in her life. Sure, it had a bit of a gritty aftertaste, but at least she wouldn't keel over and die right away.

She had just gotten her seventh mouthful of water down when a faint, familiar, whistling sound reached her ears. She quickly turned her head to her left, hands spilling the liquid she had just been about to drink.

She saw the kunai coming––almost as if it was in slow motion––but her body lacked the strength to move in time. Without even batting an eyelash, she knew she was dead. Her heart pumped out of her chest, and her eyes widened as she resignedly braced herself for the inevitable impact of the kunai with her eye socket.

Milliseconds before the knife wedged its way into her eye socket, a large, dark shadow appeared before her, effectively stopping the projectile in its tracks. Blood splattered on her astonished face, and before she could utter a single word, the shadow was gone. A loud, wet scream in the distance caused her to jump, and it took her a little while to realize what had just happened.

Naruto had saved her life.

A louder, closer whistling sound from behind caught her attention, and this time, she was able to dodge it, rolling forward onto her hands and flipping herself up onto her feet. Not even a second later a large figure dropped behind her in an attempt to catch her off guard, and acting on instinct, she quickly spun around and slammed a chakra infused palm into her assailant's chest.

Unfortunately, in her rush to defend herself, she'd forgotten one important fact: she had virtually no chakra. Her attacker's wild, lifelessly glazed eyes seemed to dance with amusement, and as he lifted a kunai to once again try to kill her, Hanabi saw her life flash before her eyes for the second time in two minutes.

Before the man could lower his arm any further, Naruto seemed to fly from the sky, roughly grabbing and tackling the man to the ground. He brutally sliced his elbow across the man's face multiple times, eliciting a sick crunching sound with each blow.

Hanabi watched in silent shock as grappled and strangled the man without using an ounce of chakra. The way he moved was both brutal and poetic, and his formerly wiry muscles bulged obscenely when he forced all of his power into crushing the shinobi's windpipe. She was so focused on her team leader that she almost missed the man approaching Naruto from behind with a sword.

"Behind you!" she yelled, trying to get to her feet to help. Without so much as blinking, Naruto grabbed the kunai from the now dead man's hand and threw it behind him. The knife pierced the last man directly through the forehead, ending his life in a pathetic two seconds.

She had to admit: she was impressed. In fact, she was freaking amazed that he'd taken down three chuunin level shinobi without using any ninjutsu, genjutsu, or hell, even any chakra. As far as she knew, that was a feat only Rock Lee, Gai, or Tenten could accomplish.

"Wow," she breathed, eyes literally shining as she stared up at him.

His breath coming in short, fast pants, Naruto placed his hand over the hole in his chest. "How many men did you see trailing us before?" he asked, his eyes struggling to stay open.

"Three. I'm sure of it."

Naruto immediately fell to his knees, one hand braced against the ground as he struggled to catch his breath. Shortly after, Hanabi was at his side, hand resting on his back with helplessness.

"Naruto! Are you okay?! Can you stand?!" she asked, eyes worriedly running over his gaping wound. Of course he wasn't okay. Was she stupid?

"This river..." he mumbled, finally lifting his head after a few seconds. "I've been here before with Jiraiya and Sakura. I think I know a place we can rest for a few weeks."

Without even a second thought, she threw his arm over her shoulders and helped him stand to his feet. It was her fault he was in this condition. Her first time actually having a say, and she got him pierced with a kunai. Feeling her eyes begin to moisten, she quickly wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

"We have to get moving right away, then. If these guys don't check in with Sasuke, he'll send others to see what's going on. Which direction?"

He pointed up the river and coughed wetly, a small bit of blood seeping from the corner of his lips. "Guess my super healing isn't working right now," he dryly joked, allowing himself to be dragged along by the much smaller Hyuuga.

"Don't speak. You'll only make your wound worse. For once, rely on me; I'll protect you."

Naruto looked down at Hanabi's resolute expression with surprise. Despite the throbbing pain in his chest and the overwhelming fatigue flowing throughout his body, he couldn't help but smile at her sudden conviction.

Leaning a bit more heavily on the young girl's body, he dropped his head and focused on simply walking, trusting her to lead them both to safety.

–––––––––––––––

The dark green curtains of the Hokage's office were drawn tightly closed, preventing even an ounce of light from entering the large, circular room. A long figure sat slumped at her desk, head leaning heavily on her hand.

"Hokage-sama," a voice called from the other side of the door, snapping the woman out of her slumber.

She stood to her feet.

"Come in!"

Haruno Sakura slowly stepped into the room, head turned towards the ground.

"Did you find them?!"

Sakura slowly shook her head, a pained grimace appearing on her smooth features. "There seemed to be some sort of explosion. We're still digging for bodies, and so far, all of them are Akatsuki soldiers. There's no sign of Naruto, Hanabi, nor Hinata anywhere."

The Godaime slumped back down into her seat, head hanging wearily on her neck. "I see. Is that all?"

Taking a hesitant step forward, the jounin moved to reassure her mentor. "Tsunade-shishou, it's only been a week. I'm sure the three of them are fine and are on their way back right now. If I know Naruto as well as I think I do, there's no way he isn't alive."

Tsunade raised her eyes to meet Sakura's, giving her a small, tired smile. "Thanks, Sakura." Rather than nod or smile like she expected, the Haruno lowered her head and looked off to the side. "Sakura?"

"Actually..." She trailed off, fidgeting a bit nervously under her teacher's gaze.

Frowning, the blonde narrowed her eyes and leaned forward. "Sakura."

Sakura sighed quietly, obviously hesitant to say what was on her mind. "I heard a rumor about Hiashi-sama of the Hyuuga. He's threatening to separate the Hyuuga clan from Konoha."

Tsunade was quiet for a few seconds, making her apprentice wonder if she'd even heard her. Finally, she spoke. "What did you say?" she seethed, her voice low and dangerous.

"It's just a rumor, but it seems he's upset that you sent his youngest daughter, the only remaining heir to the Hyuuga clan, off on an S-class mission. It's not just him, though; the entire clan is an uproar."

The woman banged her fist on her steel-enforced desk, nearly splitting the hunk of wood and metal straight down the middle. "What was I supposed to do?! There was no other Hyuuga around, and the mission couldn't wait for us to find someone else!"

She sighed and brought her hand up to her forehead, rubbing it in slow, even circles. She didn't need this; especially with the Akatsuki still milling about. Without even looking up at the still fidgeting girl, she let loose a loud, exhausted sigh.

"Thank you for telling me. You're dismissed."

Sakura nodded her head and bowed at the waist. "Excuse me." She walked out of the room and closed the door behind her, shooting her mentor one last worried glance before fully shutting it.

seconds after the girl left the room, Tsunade banged her forehead on the hardwood desk. Things were falling apart, and fast. They'd lost over three hundred shinobi, including the most powerful shinobi in the world, two of their village walls, and now they were on the verge of losing one of the most powerful clans in the world. Lifting her head to stare at a picture of Naruto, Shizune, Jiraiya, and herself that they'd taken all those years ago, she breathed another exhausted sigh.

"Naruto, please come home."

**AN: Thanks to the sexy Amrun for beta-ing!**

**-dodges-**


	4. Chapter 4

**Of Foxes and Fireworks**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter 4**

Hands resting rigidly on her knees, Hanabi stared down at Naruto's unmoving body with worry. Her feet were tucked tightly underneath her, and her back remained at a straight ninety-degree angle.

Shortly after fighting and defeating the Akatsuki soldiers, she and Naruto had walked for nearly five hours to make it to their current location. It had been a bit hard to find with Naruto's slurred and jumbled directions, but eventually, the wooden shrine that would be their home for the next few days had appeared.

It didn't seem all that safe, and it wasn't that tough to find if you knew what you were looking for, but she trusted that Naruto knew what he was doing––even if he was delirious and bleeding out at an alarming rate. What other choice did she have?

However, there was one factor that she didn't account for.

"He's not going to wake up just because you stare at him," a female voice from behind her sighed.

Hanabi turned her head and frowned at the older woman, eyes smoldering with annoyance. Did she think she was stupid? _Of course_ staring at Naruto wouldn't wake him up, but what else was there to do? She couldn't leave without him, and she really didn't trust her own abilities well enough to scout the area.

"Mind your own business. Why are you still here, anyway?"

The woman walked over until she was standing directly next to the Hyuuga, arms crossed and face fixed into a scowl. "Who's the one that gave you food? Clean clothing? A place to stay?" she asked, voice soft but with a noticeably dangerous edge.

Hanabi angrily opened her mouth to say something in response, but a second later, she realized that there really was nothing she could say. The woman was right; if it wasn't for her help, things would be significantly tougher than they were right now.

In other words, both she and Naruto would probably be dead.

Water wouldn't have been much of a problem given the small well she'd found behind the shrine, but food was another story. There was absolutely nothing edible in the area unless she wanted to backtrack four or so hours to try her hand at fishing, but to be quite honest, she wasn't all that eager to go back to the river alone––especially since she was pretty much completely ineffective in a fight.

She dropped her head and looked back down at Naruto, ignoring the triumphant smirk of her "savior." It wasn't worth arguing with her over something so pointless. A quiet grunt from the man in front of her caused her to jump, and she leaned forward to get a closer look at his face.

"Naruto?" she hesitantly asked, feeling the woman behind her also lean forward.

Naruto turned his head in the direction of her voice. "I'm thirsty," the blond mumbled, eyes creaking open to look at her.

Hanabi gasped. "O-of course! Hold on!" She stood up and ran out of the room, bare feet barely making a sound on the wooden planks.

As soon as she'd left, the woman who had been quietly standing by during the exchange decided to make herself known. She kneeled down next to Naruto's futon and placed her hand on his forehead, a bright smile stretched across her face.

"Glad to see you're alright, Naruto-san."

Naruto fully opened his eyes to look up at the woman, and when he did, his eyebrows lifted into his hairline. "Sasame-chan? Is that you?!"

"You remember me!" Sasame exclaimed, clasping her hands in front of her chest.

The man grinned widely. "How could I forget? You're as cute as ever."

"Hey, you grew up pretty well yourself. I almost didn't recognize you when I first arrived."

He smiled widely at her statement, but a second later, it dropped into a sheepish one. "Sorry about this. We ran into some unexpected trouble during a mission."

Sasame shook her head. "Not at all. It was worth it to see your face again."

Stepping back into the room with a small cup of water, Hanabi watched their interaction with disgust. Oh, sure, he could smile and laugh when around Sasame, but he was as quiet as a mouse whenever he was around herself.

As if noticing her for the first time, Naruto turned his light blue eyes on Hanabi's frowning face.

"What the hell happened to your face?" he inquired, staring at the yellowing spot around her right eye.

Before Hanabi could say anything, Sasame quickly interjected. "Ah, sorry, that was me. She suddenly attacked me when I was coming to clean the shrine a couple of days ago, and I accidently gave her a shiner. She probably thought that I was one of the enemies that are trailing you two. I have to say, though––for a chuunin of the Leaf, she's kind of pathetic."

Hanabi frowned and lowered her gaze. Her first reaction was to deny the woman's words, but what could she say? Everything Sasame had said was true. She'd been downed in just under a minute, left clutching her face in agony while the redhead smirked down at her.

Feeling bad for the Hyuuga, Naruto smiled and lightly poked Sasame on the arm. "It's not her fault. Her fighting style relies heavily on chakra, and at the moment, we're both running on fumes." Shortly after he finished his sentence, he began to break down into a fit of dry coughs.

Quickly kneeling next to his body, Hanabi gently lifted his head and began to pour some of the cool water she'd grabbed earlier into his mouth. After he got a few mouthfuls of the cool liquid down, he leaned back and closed his eyes, breathing deeply to catch his breath.

"You shouldn't try to talk with a dry throat," Hanabi admonished, eyebrows lightly furrowed with worry.

Naruto nodded and clutched at the girl's forearm, pulling the cup back to his mouth for another sip.

The corners of Sasame's lips turned downward. "I bet you're hungry, hm? I'll get you something to eat."

"I am, actually. Thanks." When Sasame stood up and walked out of the large room, Naruto opened his eyes to stare at Hanabi.

"You should defend yourself more," he frowned.

Feeling anger begin to well up in her chest, she subconsciously narrowed her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that thing with Sasame-chan. She put you down twice, and twice you let her get away with it."

Hanabi's eyebrows lifted as she looked at him. She hadn't known he was awake during the first exchange. Immediately getting a grip on her surprise, she frowned. "Well, excuse me for not having limitless wit."

Naruto lifted an eyebrow. "You don't have a problem talking back to _me_."

Hanabi blinked. Now that she thought about it, he was right. She was unusually outspoken whenever she was around him. Words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them, and more often than not, she didn't even notice. Wanting to change the subject, she dropped her eyes to his bandaged wound.

"You heal fast," she said, waving her hand towards his chest.

The blond sat up, looked down at his chest, and pulled down the wrappings, seeing that the gaping wound that had been there three days before was now only a large scar. It still ached a bit, but it was nothing he couldn't ignore. He touched the back of his head, finding that while it was still a little sore, the wound there had also healed up nicely.

"That's a good sign. It means that the Kyuubi's chakra isn't as affected by the poison––though a wound like this would usually heal within a few hours." He paused slightly in his speech, face taking on a thoughtful expression.

The Hyuuga watched his eyes darken as he thought, and she couldn't help but wonder what was going through his mind. Whatever it was, it didn't look good.

After a few awkward seconds of silence, he cut his eyes back up to her and put on a small smile.

"How long have I been out?"

Without batting an eyelash, she answered. "Three days."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "Three days?! I've been asleep for three days?! Why the _hell_ didn't you try to wake me?!"

Hanabi cringed under his anger, lowering her head as if the maneuver would protect her from his acerbic glare. "I just thought you'd want the time to let your body recover. It seemed reasonably safe here, and I didn't know what else to do." She dropped her head even more, large, white-violet eyes staring at her hands with something akin to shame.

Naruto groaned inwardly. He hated that. It had to be a Hyuuga clan technique, since Hinata had often done the exact same thing whenever he had scolded or yelled at her. Not for the first time, he realized that Hanabi was more like his sister than he'd originally thought. From his experience, only one thing would work to make her happy again.

"I'm sorry. Do you want a hug?" he asked, widely opening his arms to her.

Hanabi's head snapped up to stare at him, eyes widened as far as they could go. She looked at him as if he'd grown a second head. Her hands tightly gripped her knees until her knuckles turned a pasty shade of white.

"W-what did you say?!"

The blond sighed and opened his arms a little wider, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "I'm asking if you want a hug. It'll make you feel better."

Having made sure that she'd heard him right, she leaned back until she was just out of his reach––just in case he tried something. "A ... hug? How will that make me feel better?"

"Come here and I'll show you."

Hanabi glared mistrustfully at him for a few seconds, but when she saw no malice in his expression–the Hyuuga were masters at reading people, after all––she gradually softened her face into a simple frown. She slowly, unsteadily walked forward on her knees, eyes looking everywhere but at him. As she neared the ANBU officer, she felt her body begin to heat up and sweat, causing her to wonder if she looked as nervous as she felt.

Naruto wrapped his arms around the much smaller girl, a bit surprised at exactly how thin she was underneath the ugly, loose-fitting clothes she'd been given. With a bit more pressure, he was certain he could crush her even in his weakened state. "There. Don't you feel better?"

At first, her body remained rigid and tight. Gradually, though, she began to relax, and after one or two minutes, she found that she really _did_ feel better. All of the worries and fears that had been building up over the last couple of weeks began to melt away, leaving only a warm, comfortable feeling in her chest. She shyly lifted her arms to return the hug, resting her head on the area between his neck and shoulder.

"Mmhmm," she murmured, closing her eyes and exhaling through her nose.

As far as she could remember, he was only the third person to ever hug her. Her sister had made it a point to hug her at least once a week (after she'd started dating Naruto, anyway), and Tenten had given her a couple of friendly hugs whenever she came to the Hyuuga mansion to visit Neji. However, Naruto was the first _male _to ever hug her, and the more she thought about it the more her cheeks began to heat with embarrassment.

It wasn't embarrassing enough for her to let go, though.

Before she knew it, slow, salty tears began to roll down her cheeks. She quickly lowered her head to hide them, but she couldn't hide the soft sniffle that slipped from her nose.

"Oh god, are you crying? Please tell me you're not crying."

"I'm not crying," Hanabi mumbled, discreetly lifting her sleeved arm to wipe her nose.

Naruto inwardly groaned. He was bad with tears. Having been alone for the first twelve years of his life left him positively dumbstruck when it came to seeing people at their weakest, and consoling others was a concept he'd not fully grasped.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked after a couple of seconds, voice sounding decidedly uncomfortable.

His words barely registering in her mind, she lifted her head to mumble out a response. "Talk about what?"

Naruto paused. Now that she was relaxed and already starting to get some of her repressed feelings out, it was as good of a time as any to talk. "About Hinata-chan. I know I haven't exactly been open about my feelings, but I was wondering if you wanted to get it all out. It'll help you."

The mood was instantly ruined. Hanabi's body once again grew rigid, and she instantly began to pull away from him.

Rushing to explain himself, Naruto quickly elaborated. "I mean, we've been on the run for the better part of a week, and it's not good to keep everything inside."

"I'm fine, thank you. Onee-sama was a shinobi, and I came to terms with the fact that she might die in the line of duty a long time ago. Crying won't bring her back, and I'm certain Onee-sama wouldn't want me to dwell on her death forever. Now, if it suits you, I'd rather not talk about it."

The blonde's grip on her shoulders tightened. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"I step out of the room for five minutes and this is what happens?" Sasame sighed, a plate of food in her hands. Hanabi jumped back as if she'd been burned, face turning a bright pink. Now that she was away from Naruto, her common sense came rushing back.

Turning to look at the frowning redhead, she stammered and stuttered over herself to explain. "I-I...t-this...this isn't––"

"It's only a hug, Sasame-chan. Would you like one too?" Naruto asked, feeling sorry enough for the Hyuuga to help her out.

Hanabi noticeably bristled at his so-called "help." Her fists lightly clenched with annoyance, and she struggled not to say something that could cause further embarrassment.

Noticing this, Sasame smiled and kneeled down next to the younger girl, handing Hanabi the plate of onigiri, tamagoyaki, miso soup and pickled vegetables. "I think I would, actually. I never did get to fully thank you for your help with finding Arashi-niichan."

The woman leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Naruto, resting her head in the exact same place as Hanabi had only a second ago.

Hanabi noticed with some satisfaction that he didn't hug Sasame nearly as tightly as he'd held her, but she still didn't like Sasame touching Naruto so familiarly. He belonged to her Onee-sama, and no one else.

"You should eat before your food gets cold," Hanabi insisted, rudely interrupting their hug.

The woman glanced over her shoulder at Hanabi and frowned. "Hey, you got at least a minute of hug-time in. Let me get mine."

"I'm his _girlfriend's_ younger sister. I'm _supposed_ to get longer hugs."

Sasame smiled wryly, but let go. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised––though it is strange how both her boyfriend and little sister are on such a tough mission together. She must be worried sick. How long have you been going out with her?"

"It's complicated," he frowned, glaring at Hanabi.

The chuunin looked down at the plate of food in apparent shame. Even if she had done it for the honor of her sister, it was still a low blow.

She held the food out for Naruto to take. "You should eat," she mumbled, purposefully avoiding his gaze. The way he acted when he was disappointed reminded her vaguely of her father, but surprisingly enough, the blonde's despondency seemed much more intense. She could clearly feel his smoldering blue eyes on her face, and by association, she could also feel Sasame's confused ones.

He took the plate with a grunt, finally letting the girl off the hook. With a quiet "Itadikimasu," he lifted the black, wooden chopsticks from the plate and began to ravenously shovel the food into his mouth. He hadn't realized exactly how hungry he was until he'd taken that first bite, but now that he'd had a taste, he couldn't stop eating.

Sasame leaned forward with a barely contained grin. "What do you think? Good?"

"Good? This is the best thing I've had in years," he mumbled around a mouthful of rice, completely ignoring the disbelieving stare of Hanabi.

"I made the vegetables," she chimed in, fists balling up in her lap. It was true; Hinata had taught her how to prepare them years ago, almost around the time that Hanabi had become a genin. It was also true that that Hinata was ten times better at cooking than Sasame.

"Really? You did a good job."

Hanabi lifted her head and smiled, missing the astonished stare of the other woman in the room.

The redhead raised a hand to her mouth, amused eyes shifting between Naruto and Hanabi. "Oh. My. God."

"What's up, Sasame-chan?"

Sasame quickly shook her head and stood to her feet, hastily backing towards the kitchen. "Nothing, I just remembered that I left something on the stove. I'll be right back." Her eyes cut between the two shinobi one more time before she finally turned and walked out of the room.

"Weird," the blond murmured, stuffing more food into his mouth. At the pace he was going, it didn't take too long to get through the plate food, and after eating, Naruto lie back down on the futon in an attempt to get some more sleep.

Hanabi tried her best to remain patient and wait for him to wake up, but after only two or three minutes, she couldn't contain herself.

"What are we going to do about getting home?" she asked, eyes boring into his closed ones.

He cracked an eye open to look at her. "Nothing for today. We should both get some sleep tonight, and tomorrow, we'll work on teaching you a new taijutsu style."

Feeling herself become defensive, Hanabi's fists curled tighter in her lap. "What's wrong with my taijutsu style?!"

Naruto sighed. "It's useless without chakra."

"Oh. Right." She felt stupid for getting so defensive when the answer was so obvious. If her father was here, he'd be positively furious that she was even considering learning something other than the Gentle Fist.

Luckily for both of them, he was hundreds of miles away in Konoha.

"Are you going to teach me the style you used to beat those three guys?" She was well aware that her voice sounded way too excited, but the quick, efficient way he'd taken the Akatsuki grunts down was amazing. Before that moment, she'd thought that only the jyuuken could take someone down in only one hit.

Naruto shook his head, shaggy blond hair falling in front of his eyes. "Unfortunately, your body is frail, light, and weak. Your kicks and punches won't do much of anything to anyone at this point, and it'd take at least a year of rigorous training for you to build up the strength needed for such a hard style."

Hanabi frowned but swallowed her anger. "So?"

"_So_, you'll need a style that doesn't rely solely on your strength. Are you familiar with jujutsu?" When she shook her head, he continued. "It's a style that relies on using your opponent's strength and momentum against them. You would be able to lock up and then kill your enemy with either a weapon or your bare hands. Just like the gentle fist, jujutsu is a soft style of fighting. I have very little doubt that you'll be able to pick up the basics right away. My goal is to make you strong enough to fend for yourself."

Naruto paused to take a swig of water, glancing at her from over the rim of his cup. He was pleased that she wasn't against learning a new style, and was even a little surprised to see that she seemed excited about it. There was something feral in the way her eyes shined, and it was all he could do not to break out into a cold sweat. Perhaps this wasn't such a good idea after all.

Luckily, Sasame chose that moment to make her reappearance, a small tray with three steaming cups on top in her hands. She handed them each a cup of the tea and settled down in between the two shinobi, earning herself an annoyed glare from Hanabi.

"So, what are your plans for the next few weeks?"

The blond took a tiny sip from the tea, discreetly swishing it around in his mouth to check it for poison. It wasn't that he didn't trust the woman, but she _had_ tried to poison him in the past. "Well, I was kind of hoping we could go to your town. We need food, water, weapons, and if possible, some camping supplies."

The redhead's face dropped. "I don't know. This is Sasuke's territory, and his men are everywhere. It's too risky. You'd be caught and identified within minutes of walking into town."

Naruto's eyes visibly darkened at the mention of his former friend and teammate, and noticing this, Hanabi quickly offered up her suggestions in a weak attempt to change the flow of conversation.

"What if he dyed his hair and wore some contacts? Since he can't use chakra, we could also use make up to cover his whisker marks. I doubt the enemy would give a second glance to a black-haired, brown eyed peasant, and even if they did stop and question us, it's not like anyone actually knows what Naruto looks like."

Both Sasame and Naruto snapped their heads around to look at her. It was an incredibly obvious ploy, but that was exactly why it could work.

Naruto shot Hanabi a small, appraising grin. "I like that idea. How about it, Sasame-chan? Do you think you can get us the stuff we need to sneak in?"

Sasame paused in thought, mentally running the idea through her mind. "I believe so. It shouldn't be _too _hard since the majority of the people in my clan lack the ninja training necessary to perform even a basic henge. We have tons of extra clothing and makeup." She turned her eyes on Hanabi for the second time in thirty seconds. "What about her? Won't _she _need a disguise?"

The ANBU officer also began to scrutinize the Hyuuga, making the thin girl shift uncomfortably under his piercing blue gaze. "Probably contacts. Something dark, though, like a brown or hazel. Are you okay with that, Sparky?"

Hanabi smiled grimly. "While I'd rather not have to resort to such crude methods, it's not like I really have a choice. There aren't any Hyuuga outside of Konoha, and the Akatsuki have most likely been told to be on the lookout for me." She paused to shoot Naruto an annoyed stare. "And don't call me Sparky."

"It's settled, then. It'll take me at least a day to get everything together––probably even longer to convince my clan members to house you two. I'm sure they remember what you did for us in the past, though, so they'll come around with a little persuading," Sasame said.

"Thanks, Sasame-chan. I'll be sure to have Konoha reimburse you for your troubles."

"Damn right you'd better! Contacts aren't cheap, you know!" Despite her words, the kunoichi continued to smile warmly at the blond, a twinkle of something mischievous floating around in her light brown eyes.

It was plain to see that Sasame had a thing for Naruto––if only a fleeting feeling. Logically, something so small shouldn't bother her. Logically, she should simply turn a blind eye to their obvious mutual attraction. Unfortunately, logic was failing her horribly at that moment.

Hanabi once again balled her fists in her lap, large brown shorts wrinkling and twisting under the pressure.

She didn't like Sasame. She didn't like her one bit.

––––––––

Yawning widely, Hanabi slowly made her way down the ridiculously long staircase of the shrine, pale eyes half closed and dark brown hair a convoluted mess. After getting used to traveling by moonlight, being forced to wake up at the break of dawn again was a nearly impossible task.

Personally, she didn't understand why it was so important to get up so early. Sure that's when the sun came up, but who said that human beings had to work on the sun's schedule? Why was a huge, flaming ball of fire allowed to dictate when they had to rise and when they had to rest? Why didn't people rise with the moon and sleep with the sun?

And while she was on the subject, why did the Earth have to revolve around the sun? Why did _everything_ have to revolve around the sun?! Who was this sun, anyway, and why did it demand such obedience and admiration?!

She roughly shook her head to clear her thoughts, finding her internal self begin to degenerate into nonsense. She could debate the problems, philosophies, and inconsistencies of life all day if given half a chance, but now wasn't the time for such an admittedly trivial task.

Today was her first day of training.

"Hey, Sparky, ready to get started?" a bright and cheery voice called from her left, nearly startling the girl out of her half-awakened state. She squinted her eyes in the direction the voice had come from, only to see an annoyingly chipper Naruto working his way through a seemingly complex sequence of stretches.

"Don't call me Sparky," she murmured in his general direction, tired annoyance slipping into her tone. Hanabi lifted her hands to smooth down her wayward hair, but after a couple of seconds of futile effort, she shrugged and dropped her arms back to her sides. It was only she and Naruto here, so there really was no need to make herself look presentable.

Still feeling as if she'd just downed five bottles of sake––an event she never wanted to relive––the chuunin tiredly placed her hands on her tiny waist. "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

The blond nodded his head, pausing in his routine to shoot her a small smile. "Good. First of all, we need to get your blood pumping and your body nimble. Watch me and repeat what I do."

After making sure that she was paying attention, Naruto immediately began to start from the beginning of his warm up, doing each maneuver slow enough for her to catch on. To his pleasant surprise, though, Hanabi was matching him pose for pose, almost as if she'd been doing it for her entire life.

There was no denying that her body was nearly twice as flexible as his own, and as he watched her fold herself in half to wrap her arms around her legs, he couldn't help but let out an amused chuckle. Even half-asleep she was able to hold her own.

Standing up straight, Naruto rested his hands on his hips. "Alright, that's enough. How do you feel? Awake yet?"

"You'd have to be dead to not be awake after doing all that," she muttered dryly, also standing up to meet his gaze.

"Cheer up, Sparky! This is where the fun stuff starts!"

"The fun stuff? Training and fun don't go together. Never has, never will." She paused for a second to frown in his direction. "And will you stop calling me Sparky?! I have a name."

Naruto narrowed his eyes."You're not a very positive person, are you?" Not giving her a chance to reply, he continued. "Like I was saying before, jujutsu is a soft style of fighting. Rather than focus on strength, power, or speed, it uses the principles of balance, leverage, and momentum to defeat opponents. Normally, you'd learn by watching me use the moves on another person. However, since there are only two of us here, I'll have to demonstrate the moves on you."

Hanabi nodded, feeling the excitement she'd felt the day before begin to creep back into her body. This style really did sound perfect for her, especially since her strength and power were nearly nonexistent.

"What do I need to do?" she asked, standing a little straighter than she had a minute ago.

The blond grinned and walked over to her, easily wrapping his large hand around her tiny forearm. "Just stand there and look pretty."

Once again interrupting her before she could comment, he flipped her up and over his back, causing her to land back first on the ground.

"The first art of jujutsu: throwing."

Her eyes wide and her back throbbing with pain, Hanabi couldn't but feel as though today was going to be a very long day.

Nearly eleven hours later, the two shinobi were quietly relaxing in the main room of the shrine, both tired from a full day of training. Naruto had demonstrated every possibly throw that he knew––which was quite a few, as Hanabi had painfully found out. Not only that, but he'd gone through great pains to demonstrate them at least ten or so times until he felt like she knew them by heart.

Naruto looked over at her from his place on the floor, a bowl of crackers and a cup of tea resting at his side. "Hey, Sparky, you okay?"

"Fine," she croaked, staring up at the ceiling. Her arms and legs were splayed out at her sides, and her loose, brown clothing was soaked with sweat and clung to her body for dear life. "Why do you ask?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders and swallowed a mouthful of cracker. "You looked like you were in pain. Are you sure you don't want to take a hot bath? I just got out, and it's probably still hot."

"Are you suggesting that I take a bath in the same water you just used?!" she shrieked, finally sitting up to stare at him.

The blond raised his eyebrows. "What? Isn't that normal?"

"No! That's disgusting!"

"Huh. Well, okay. Have fun drawing, heating, and scenting some fresh water, then," he said, rolling over to grab another cracker.

Hanabi paused in thought. That actually wasn't such a bad idea. She could walk down the stairs of the shrine, get the fresh water from the well started by vigorously pumping the handle, make a whole new fire to heat the tub, and wait twenty or so minutes for the tub to get to the right temperature.

Yeah, right.

Shooting him a last scathing glare, the girl painfully stood to her feet and walked gingerly down the hall, wincing with each step. Her body ached all over, and the more she walked, the less she minded taking a bath after Naruto. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. She had been the one on the ground all day, so it was possible that the man had barely broken a sweat.

She stepped into the changing room and peeled off her sweaty clothes, wincing at how black and disgusting they looked. Yeah, skipping a bath wasn't an option at this point.

Hanabi walked further into the large room, finding that the bathroom was split into three large areas. One area housed the tub, another housed the toilet and a sink, and the last area was completely alien to her.

A simple wooden stool sat over a large drain, and there were tons of different oils, soaps, and shampoo bottles shoved against the wall. It looked like a washing area, but isn't that what the tub was for? Furrowing her eyebrows, she reluctantly threw on one of the yukatas hanging on the wall and backtracked towards the living room, unable to believe what she was about to do.

"Uh, hey, Naruto," she mumbled, poking her head around the corner to look at him.

The blond rolled over from his place on the floor to glance in her direction, a half eaten rice cracker hanging from his mouth. "What?"

The girl shuffled her feet and toyed with her hands, acting more like her older sister in that moment than she ever had in her entire life. It didn't help that her cheeks were already flushed with embarrassment. "Well...can you help me take a bath?"

The cracker dropped from Naruto's lips. "Huguh-wha?!" he gasped, eyes wide as he stared at her in disbelief.

Instantly realizing what her words implied, she smacked her hand over her face. "Wait! No! Dammit! I mean, can you show me how to take a bath? I've never used this particular setup before!"

"Oh," Naruto sighed, looking relieved. "Yeah, sure, no problem." He followed the young Hyuuga down the hallway and into the bathroom, being careful to keep his attention on the top of her dark head rather than the way-too-large yukata tied around her body. The last thing he needed was for her to accuse him of trying to sneak a peek, which was laughable in itself considering how pathetically endowed she was.

He made sure that he was paying attention before speaking. "Okay, so, first you want to take all your clothes off," he drawled, demonstrating by removing his loose-fitting brown shirt.

Hanabi quickly covered her eyes and turned her head, backing towards the bathroom entrance. "What are you doing?! I didn't mean for you to _literally_ show me how to take a bath!" she shrieked.

Naruto blinked. "I know. I need to take my shirt off to keep it from getting wet."

She sheepishly opened her eyes, feeling slightly embarrassed that she'd overreacted. "Oh."

"As I was saying," he continued, shooting her an annoyed frown, "Take all of your clothes and put them in a basket. Then, walk over to the tub and get some water." He walked over to the tub followed closely by an interested looking Hanabi.

Although she'd never had much of an interest in learning how to take a bath the traditional way before, watching him go through all of the little steps was somewhat intriguing. The way he so expertly maneuvered around the room was kind of cool, and she almost couldn't wait to try it on her own.

Naruto bent down and grabbed a small wooden bucket sitting next to the bathtub before scooping out a large helping of the piping hot liquid. "After you get some water, walk over to the bathing area and sit down on the stool."

"Why don't you just get in the tub?" Hanabi asked, an amusingly confused frown on her face.

"Because that's disgusting. Other people have to use the bathtub too, you know." He sat down on the wooden bench and held it up over his head. "Next, pour the water you just grabbed over yourself to rinse your body and get rid of any loose dirt. If you're especially dirty, you can do this two or three times." Rather than dump the water over his entire body, he leaned forward and dumped it over his head, causing his surprisingly long, spiky hair to loosen and fall down around his face.

Some excess water began to drip down his shoulders and chest, and finding herself staring, the Hyuuga quickly averted her gaze towards the tub. "So, now do we get in?" she mumbled, eyes focused squarely on the steaming clear water.

The blond roughly shook the water out of his hair, almost as if he were some kind of dog. Drops of water went everywhere, sparing nothing and no one.

"Hey!"

"Sorry," he said, not looking very sorry at all, "I forgot to grab a towel. You're getting in the bath soon anyway, so it doesn't matter." Not giving her a chance to complain some more, he walked over to the tub and sat down on the edge. "But, yeah, now you get in the tub. Don't bring anything in, though, and whatever you do, don't use any soap. This thing is just for soaking, and nothing else."

He stood up again and returned to the stool, this time facing backwards to look straight at her. "After ten or so minutes of soaking, get out of the tub and wash your body and hair. It's a good idea to bring along a bucket of water before you sit down, since trying to maneuver with soap in your eyes is a hard and painful experience. Kind of like the first time you have sex."

Her mouth opening wide and face glowing a bright pink, Hanabi. "Was that really necessary?" she spat, face scrunched up with annoyance.

Naruto grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "No, but I like to see you squirm. Anyway, make sure you rinse off well and get all the soap and stuff out of your hair. I usually prefer to get in the tub again for another quick soak, but at this point, you can dry yourself and put your clothes back on if you wish. That's pretty much all there is to it. Easy, right?"

Hanabi slowly nodded her head, grudgingly agreeing with the older shinobi. "I could've done without the demonstration and annoyance, but thanks."

"Anytime, Sparky. Feel free to let the water out when you're done!" With that, he walked out of the bathroom at a leisurely gait, shirt thrown haphazardly around his neck.

She watched him leave with an annoyed scowl. How her sister could stand to be around him for more than five seconds was beyond her. He was immature, selfish, and an incorrigible pervert to boot. All he had going for him was his strength, but that was hardly enough to cover up his obvious personality flaws. Just what had her sister seen in the idiot blind?

Shaking her head, she let the yukata pool around her ankles and walked over to the bathing area. She dumped a huge amount of water over her head to rinse off like Naruto had done a few minutes ago, and finding the sensation kind of nice, decided to do it a second time.

When she felt that she was reasonably free of any loose dirt or sweat, she carefully walked over to the tub and began to slide in feet first, wincing as the piping hot water scorched her sensitive skin. Unfortunately, Naruto chose that exact moment to make his reappearance.

The door slid open just as she'd gotten halfway into the tub and a mop of blond hair appeared in the opening. "Oh, yeah, one more th––"

"GET OUT!" Hanabi shrieked, throwing the wooden rinsing bucket at his surprised face. Annoyingly enough the bucket missed its target, but at the very least it had done its job. Just as quickly as it had appeared, Naruto's face vanished from the crack in the door.

He slammed the piece of wood behind him, eyes still closed even though he was outside of the room. "Sorry! I just wanted to tell you to be careful not to overheat! A girl your size is easily susceptible to the extreme temperatures the bath can reach. If you start to feel tired, get out right away, okay?" He waited a few beats for her to answer, and when she didn't, he hung his head and sighed. "Sorry, I really didn't think you'd get undressed so quickly."

"Just go away!" She waited until she heard the slow, light sound of footsteps disappear before she allowed herself to relax.

Her ears burning and her pride thoroughly manhandled, Hanabi slunk down in the steaming hot water, leaving only her chin visible above the tub. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"Idiot."

**AN: Thanks to Amrun for beta'ing!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Of Foxes and Fireworks**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter 5**

"I ... I think you've got the gist of it," Naruto gasped, chest heaving as he struggled to catch his breath from the ground. His sweat-soaked bangs stuck to his forehead, and dirt marred every surface of his body.

"Really?" Hanabi asked. "I don't know, I think I need more practice. Here, let me try it again." She couldn't help the small, mischievous grin that spread across her face as she spoke. After being thrown around the clearing for two days straight, it was finally her turn to demonstrate what _she'd_ learned on _him_.

Needless to say, she was having fun.

"C'mon, Sparky, give me a break. We've been practicing the same throw for over an hour now!" he groaned.

Frowning down at his exhausted form, the Hyuuga reluctantly dropped her shoulders. "Fine, if you're going to whine about it." She suddenly straightened her shoulders and put on another wide smile. "On to the next throw, then!"

Naruto groaned again, picking himself up off the ground for the hundredth time that day. While he was tired, dirty, and throbbing all over, he couldn't help but feel a bit of pride at how quickly she was picking up the concepts and techniques. At this rate, she'd be a proficient fighter within a couple of months.

That didn't mean he was willing to risk breaking his neck by allowing her to toss him around the clearing, though.

"Actually, we should probably stop here. It's already late in the afternoon, and I don't know if I can take another hard landing."

Hanabi's frown deepened. "But we're almost done! I only have to do two more throws, right?"

"Yeah, but..."

"What's the problem? It shouldn't take too long."

Naruto stared at her wide, excited eyes with dread. Somehow, he knew this would happen. When he'd taught the basics of jujutsu to Hinata, she had practically run him into the ground, and that was _with_ his healing factor, chakra, and body not feeling like complete shit.

A dull ache resounded in his chest as he thought of Hinata. He couldn't go a day without thinking of her smiling face and bright, pale eyes, and even worse, he couldn't go an hour without seeing her features in Hanabi. It was almost like Hinata's ghost was haunting him through her younger sister, constantly blaming him for allowing her to die. Luckily, the sharp snap of a twig breaking in the distance was enough to break him out of his dark musings.

"You two're hard at work, I see," Sasame grinned, walking into the clearing. Her long red hair was covered by a beige bandana, and a large brown sack was slung over one shoulder.

"Sasame-chan! You're back!" The blond rushed over to the woman with a far too wide smile, putting as much distance between himself and Hanabi as humanly possible. "Were you able to get everything? Want me to take that for you? It looks heavy, and you're probably tired after all that traveling."

Sasame lifted her eyebrows and glanced between Hanabi and Naruto, a mildly confused frown marring her face. "I...guess?" she murmured, handing him the bag. Before Hanabi could stop him, he nearly ran up the steps of the shrine to deposit the items inside.

Frowning, the redhead turned to look over at Hanabi. "What did you do to make him run off like that?"

Feeling slightly put off of by the sudden accusation, Hanabi matched Sasame's frown with one of her own. "I didn't do anything. We were just finishing up our training when you arrived."

"Right," Sasame huffed, crossing her arms underneath her chest. "Just don't forget that he's your sister's boyfriend."

The Hyuuga recoiled as if she'd been shocked. She had an inkling of what the woman was trying to imply, but no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't see how the implication applied to she and Naruto at all. If anything, their relationship was that of a senpai and kouhai. The thought of them being anything more literally made her sick.

"Excuse me? Why would I forget that?" she asked, feeling anger begin to boil in the bottom of her stomach.

Rather than answer, the woman sniffed and turned to walk up the stairs to the shrine, leaving a confused and angry Hanabi in her wake.

The Hyuuga tightly clenched her fists. Logically, she shouldn't be so upset. Logically, she should've just brushed the comment off as the ramblings of a decrepit, lonely old woman. However, logic hardly applied to this situation.

Not only was Sasame insulting _her_, but she was also insulting her sister, clan, and her entire upbringing. Common sense taught her that there was nothing lower than stealing the lover of another person, especially the lover of a friend or family member. Besides, she had way too much respect for her Onee-sama to even _consider_ entering a relationship with Naruto.

Fully intending to give the older kunoichi a piece of her mind, Hanabi stomped up the stairs and into the living area of the shrine––only to see Naruto and Sasame laughing about an old story as they set out the equipment needed to dye his hair. His smile stretched from ear to ear, and he looked far too happy around that two-faced snake of a woman. Even though she hadn't forgotten about her Onee-sama, it seemed that Naruto had.

Surprisingly enough, Naruto actually turned to look at her, giving her the same wide smile that had been directed towards Sasame.

"Hey, Sparky, you go ahead and take a bath first. I ran some water earlier, and I just got the fire going about five minutes ago. It should be warm enough in a little while."

As soon as he'd turned his narrow, bright eyes on her, Hanabi felt all of the anger she had carefully amassed leave her system. She stood awkwardly in front of them for a few seconds, debating whether or not to call Sasame out. She'd hate to bring down his good mood, and that bath did sound awfully inviting...

Finally deciding to let it slide this one time, she nodded her head and sent him a tiny smile of thanks before turning around and walking towards the bathroom.

"I really worry about her sometimes," Naruto sighed, watching the thin girl disappear around the corner. He was so caught up in watching Hanabi leave that he completely missed Sasame's sudden frown.

"Why? She seems perfectly fine to me." Sasame grabbed his shoulders and forced him to sit down in one of the kitchen chairs. She then wrapped a dark towel around his neck to begin the dying process.

"That's exactly it. Something...happened about a week ago. I was expecting her to be a lot more upset about it than she was," Naruto mumbled, wincing slightly at the coolness of the black dye against his scalp. He felt the familiar tingle of chakra seep into his body, and glancing up at the mirror hanging on the wall in front of him, he watched amazed as the ink slowly began to turn his hair a midnight black.

Sasame ran her fingers through his black streaked blond hair, working to spread the dye all throughout his hair. "If you mean crying, she did plenty of that."

The room was quiet for a few seconds as Naruto struggled to comprehend her words. "What?! When?!" he suddenly exclaimed, almost standing up out of his seat.

She placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back down into the chair. "When you two first got here. She bawled her eyes out for two days straight."

The silence that followed her words was deafening. Naruto seemed to literally freeze beneath her hands, and the vicious scowl that spread across his face was almost enough to scare her.

"Shit," Naruto hissed, eyes narrowing into slits.

"Why are you angry? Most guys would be pleased to have a girl crying over them."

"She wasn't––" he started, but quickly shut his mouth.

"––Crying over you. I kind of figured that." She leaned his head back over the sink and began to wash his hair, massaging his scalp with her long, thin fingers. "Does it have something to do with your girlfriend?"

Although it was barely noticeable, Naruto suddenly tensed up, instantly affirming Sasame's suspicions.

"So it does," she murmured, a small frown appearing on her face.

"It doesn't."

"It does. Don't be so distant, Naruto-san. If you'd like, you can tell me all about it."

"I'm fine. More importantly, will your clan put us up for a week or two?" he asked, obviously attempting to change the subject.

Sasame frowned again but answered, smearing a little of the leftover dye onto his eyebrows. "Banchou says he owes the late Jiraiya-sama a few favors, so he'd be glad to have you for as long as you like."

As if their previous conversation had never happened, Naruto grinned widely and craned his neck to look at her. "That's great! Are you fine setting off tomorrow morning?"

"If you'd hold still and let me finish your hair, sure." She roughly tousled his hair with the towel for another few seconds before standing back and admiring her handiwork. "Done! What do you think?" she asked, placing her hand on his right shoulder.

"It looks amazing. You really are good with hair, Sasame-chan," Naruto said, angling his head to get a better look. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that he was born with black hair.

"We look pretty good together, don't we?" Sasame smirked, leaning over his shoulder and placing her head next to his. Her long red bangs brushed against his whiskered cheek, tickling the sensitive flesh and causing him to also put on a small smile.

"The bath is free," Hanabi said flatly, glaring at them from her place in the hallway entrance. The loose, beige shorts she wore hung halfway down her calves, and her dark green clad arms were crossed tightly over her chest. She was interested to see how he'd try to reason his way out of this one. To her surprise, he didn't even try to explain himself.

Naruto stood up and stretched, ruffling his newly dyed hair. "Thanks. What do you think of my hair?"

The chuunin blinked and averted her gaze, a little caught off guard by the question. Was he fishing for a compliment or did he really want her opinion? Then again, it didn't really matter either way since it wasn't like he'd re-dye his hair just because she didn't like it. "I...I think it suits you," she murmured, figuring that answer to be satisfactory.

The raven-haired man's grin widened. As he passed her on his way to the bathroom, he placed his hand on her head and turned it towards the redhead. "You should let Sasame-chan fix you up, too. She's really good with this kind of stuff."

Frowning at the young Hyuuga, Sasame motioned for her to take a seat in the hard, wooden chair that Naruto had been sitting in previously. "Take a seat."

"Why?" Hanabi glowered, eyes glaring hard into Sasame's own.

"You heard Naruto––your hair is atrocious. You look like a drowned sewer rat," Sasame said, pointing towards the mirror she and Naruto had been gazing into prior.

Hanabi glanced at the mirror on the wall and blanched. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't combed her hair since she'd left Konoha, and she hadn't had a haircut in almost a month. Coming to terms with these facts, she reluctantly walked over to the chair and sat down. "Don't mess anything up."

The redhead sniffed and reached for a pair of scissors, beginning to clip the edges of the brunette's hair. "I cut the hair of the girls in my clan all the time. I think I can handle a simple trim."

Sasame cut Hanabi's hair in awkward silence, every now and then using a comb to work out any knots or tangles.

Even though she was loathe to admit it, the Hyuuga had to admit that Sasame seemed to know what she was doing. The expert way in which Sasame handled her hair reminded Hanabi of her own personal hairdresser back in Konoha; well, before the old woman was crushed by a building during the Akatsuki's attack, anyway. Just when Hanabi was starting to relax, the woman coughed and began to speak.

"So, do you have a boyfriend back home?" she asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Hanabi groaned inwardly. Of course. Lull her into a false sense of security and camaraderie before ambushing her with seemingly harmless questions. It was basic shinobi tactics. "I don't see how that's any of your business."

"Just trying to make conversation, no need to be so uptight." She was quiet for a few seconds before speaking again. "What's your sister like?"

"Better than you'll ever be," the chuunin mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sasame narrowed her eyes. "Really now?"

"Yes."

"And just what makes her so great?"

Hanabi's posture noticeably straightened, and she lifted her chin to respond. She didn't mind answering this question if it'd show Sasame just how little chance she had with Naruto. "If you must know, she's kind, beautiful, and good at everything. She had a lot of friends, was an excellent shinobi, and she used to help me comb my hair every night so that it'd stay long and straight, and––"

An especially loud snip from the scissors killed Hanabi's words in her throat.

"Oops."

The Hyuuga froze. "Oops? You...my..." she stammered, reaching up to touch the back of her head. The long, dark tresses that used to flow down her back now stopped at the area just above her shoulders. "You cut my hair!"

Sasame stepped back and held up her hands, a bit surprised at the amount of rage emanating from the thin girl. Hanabi's face looked like something out of a horror movie, and the way her body trembled made it seem as though she was about to explode any second. "It was an accident!" Sasame said, eyes sliding around the room in search of an escape route.

Unfortunately, the woman's words fell on deaf ears. "You bitch! You did it on purpose!" Before Sasame could react, Hanabi was on her. Using one of the throws she'd been practicing fervently with Naruto for the past few days, she flipped the larger woman onto her back. Without even giving her a chance to get up, Hanabi wrapped her tiny hands around Sasame's neck.

"Get off of me!" the woman screamed out between breaths, eyes wide and hands clawing at the smaller girl's face in an attempt to free herself. Her efforts were in vain, though, as the Hyuuga's grip was iron clad around her neck. Despite her size, she was ten times stronger than she looked.

Hanabi was so caught up in trying to strangle Sasame that she didn't see Naruto rush up behind her, naked except for a white towel tied loosely around his waist.

He looped his arms underneath hers and pulled her away from the gasping redhead, surprised by the amount of strength the petite girl had. He was actually having a bit of trouble holding her back. "Hanabi! What the hell are you doing?!" he shouted, struggling to get some distance between the two females.

"Look what she did to my hair! The hair that Onee-sama..." Before she could even finish her sentence, Hanabi broke down into tears. It didn't take long for her face to become messy with tears and snot, and the edges of her eyes were tinted a bright red.

Naruto's frown deepened. His eyes traced the jagged, uneven spot where Sasame had cut Hanabi's hair before turning to glare at the woman still struggling for air on the ground. "Sasame."

"I told her it was an accident, but then she suddenly attacked me!"

Naruto sighed loudly, glancing between the two kunoichi with something akin to exhaustion. While Sasame was a very good actor, there was no possible way that it could've been an accident. An accident is cutting off one or two inches; Sasame had cut off at least eight. He smiled tightly and threw a cautious arm around Hanabi's shoulders. "Stop crying, it's not so bad. It'll grow back before you know it."

Despite his words, the girl's sobs only increased. Her body began to shake and tremble against him, and her arms slowly slid around his waist for support.

Sighing again, he wrapped his other arm around her, pressing the side of her head against his bare chest. "Tears don't suit you. Besides, I think you look cuter with short hair."

"I don't see what the big deal is," Sasame mumbled, scoffing at the exchange.

"Then, would you be alright with Hanabi cutting your hair?" he asked, voice light but with an obviously dangerous edge.

Sasame's face noticeably paled. If the Hyuuga were given half a chance, she'd shave her head bald. Looking between Naruto's frown and Hanabi's tear-streaked face, she felt guilt began to well up in her chest. "Come over here and I'll clean it up for you," the redhead mumbled, avoiding the man's scowl.

Hanabi's head snapped up to look at Naruto. She was confused. She'd never had anyone stick up for her so fiercely. Even though he'd known Sasame for apparently much longer than he'd known herself, he instantly believed her over the older woman.

With a little push from Naruto, she slowly let go of his waist and walked over to sit back down in the chair. She didn't trust Sasame, but if Naruto thought it was okay, then it probably was.

The girl stared down at the clenched fists resting in her lap, doing her best to make sense of his actions. Most people would side with their friends even if they were wrong. Was he really just that honest of a guy?

She glanced up to see Naruto watching them intently, and when he noticed her looking at him, he grinned and shot her a wink. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't help the pink blush that spread across her cheeks.

She could understand a little more of what her sister saw in Naruto.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Surrounded by nearly a quarter of the Fuuma clan, Naruto, Sasame, and Hanabi stood before the clan leader.

It had been a surprisingly short trip from the shrine to the town––mostly because they'd managed to hitch a ride on the back of a passing sales cart. While they'd initially been worried by the large number of Akatsuki grunts walking the streets, it soon became apparent that their plan was actually going to work. Hanabi had been right when she'd said that no one actually knew what he looked like without his blond hair, blue eyes, and whisker marks.

Hanabi looked around at the clan members with a small bit of apprehension. She wasn't scared of the men by any means; the tattoos, muscles, and glares were nothing she hadn't seen before. However, since she'd be in their care, she was wary of whether or not they could actually be trusted.

"Welcome, Takeshi-san! It's been a few years, huh?" the clan leader grinned, large, calloused hand resting on his waist.

"Fuuma-sama, it's nice to see you again," Naruto said, bowing lowly at the waist.

The man frowned and placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder to lift him back into a standing position. "Fuuma-sama? No need to be so formal. Hanzaki is fine."

Naruto grinned and bowed again. "Then, Hanzaki-sama. Thank you for your hospitality."

"Not at all. It's the least we can do to repay you for your help in the past." He turned to look at Hanabi with a curious expression, eyes running over her soft, pale features. Her black hair and brown eyes made her look identical to Naruto, and though he had a good idea of what her cover was supposed to be, he figured it'd be prudent to ask anyway. "Who's your companion?"

Naruto grinned and placed his hand on top of Hanabi's head, and much to her annoyance, he playfully tousled her bobbed hair. "Ah, this is Aiko-chan! She's my cute little sister."

Hanabi stepped forward and bowed her head, short black hair covering her scowl at being called "cute." "Thank you for your hospitality, Hanzaki-sama."

"Nice to meet you, Aiko-chan. Please, make yourself at home." He turned to the redhead standing on Naruto's other side. "Sasame-chan, show them to their rooms. Also, I'll entrust the care of our guests to you."

"Hai, Banchou." She motioned for them to follow her out of the room, shooting a frown towards the still-glaring men in the room.

"You guys have really fixed the place up," Naruto said, brown eyes taking in the remodeled white walls of the mansion. The furniture looked brand new, and there were beautiful women lounging everywhere––to the extent where even his eyes were beginning to wander. A sharp jab in his side from Hanabi quickly made him snap his eyes forward again with a small, embarrassed cough.

"Like Banchou said, it's thanks to you that we were able to become actual shinobi again. With Orochimaru dead, it wasn't too hard to regain control of the Rice Field Country." She paused momentarily to frown. "Although recently, Sasuke rebuilt Orochimaru's old hideout and decided to settle down. Luckily for us, he isn't really interested in taking over these lands."

Naruto face dropped a bit at the mention of Sasuke. "I see."

Noticing his sudden frown, she lightly nudged his shoulder. "Oh, it's not as bad as you think. The guys that actually patrol this area aren't particularly skilled, and we do still run things around here for the most part. Ah, Takeshi-san, here's your room." She stopped in front of a wide, wooden brown door, pushing a small key into the doorknob to open it.

Both Naruto and Hanabi gasped at the size of the bedroom. There wasn't much inside of it besides a dresser, desk, lamp, chair, and futon, but it was still an amazing room regardless.

"It's huge! We can't accept this much generosity," Naruto nearly gasped, backing away from the door.

"Would you stop being so modest? If Banchou said it was fine, then it's fine. Besides, my room is right next door, so if you need anything you never have to walk far." She led them down the hall and threw open another door. "Here's your room," she said, glancing over at Hanabi.

The room wasn't quite as big as Naruto's, but it was close. The only difference between them was that hers had flowers and a larger window. However, this didn't make either of them happy.

"Why's it so far away from Na––Takeshi's room?" Hanabi frowned.

Sasame's face also fell into disappointment, a bit insulted by the question. "It's the only other open room in this wing."

"That's too far. I'd prefer it if Aiko-chan stayed in my room," Naruto insisted, placing his hand protectively on Hanabi's shoulder.

"Are you serious?! You can't do that! You two are––"

Before she could finish her sentence, the man quickly cut her off. "Brother and sister. This room is big enough for the both of us, so there shouldn't be a problem."

Sasame's mouth tightened into a thin line. "Fine, do what you want. Dinner's at six." She walked out of the room with barely a second glance, annoyance clearly visible in the way she moved.

Hanabi couldn't help it; she smirked. The look of frustration on Sasame's face was positively priceless. She was a little apprehensive about sharing a room with a male, but she trusted Naruto. She honestly couldn't believe she was thinking it, but she trusted him.

"What're you smiling about, Imouto-chan?" Naruto asked, setting down what little luggage he had on the floor.

Quickly dropping her smile, she also set down her second hand clothing. "I'm just happy to be staying in an actual house again. It reminds me of home."

"Oh. Well, after we get settled, how about we find the dojo and get some training in? We can probably finish up throwing today if you do well."

"Really?" Hanabi asked, looking up at him with shining, doe-like brown eyes.

Naruto smiled and placed his hand on her head. It was almost endearing how excited she got about training. "Yup, but only if you do well. The sooner you can fight without me, the better." He dropped his hand to her shoulder and walked her towards the door, the corners of his mouth twitching towards the ground.

**AN: Thanks to Amrun for betaing! **


End file.
